w

'Bern-

The Immortality of
Animals

And the Relation of Man
as Guardian, from a Biblical
and Philosophical Hypothesis

By
E. D. BUCKNER, A.M., M D., Ph.D.

PHILADELPHIA

GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.

PUBLISHERS

^

Copyright, 1903,
By George W. Jacobs & Co.

Published, June, 1Q03

»

«

O Lord, in whose band is the soul of every living thing.
Thou preservest man and beast. — The Bible.

I would not enter on my list of friends,

Though graced with polished manners and fine sense,

Yet wanting sensibility, the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. — Cowpee.

Dedication

To the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, Humane Society, Humane Association,
Humane Education Society, Anti- Vivisection So-
ciety, Anti- Vivisection League, Humanitarian
League, Animal Protective League, Humane
Alliance, Kindness to Animals Society, Vegetarian
Society, Anti-Cruelty Society, Defenders' League,
Audubon Society, Band of Mercy, and all other
Humane Organizations, the object of which is to
Promote Kindness and Prevent Cruelty, this book
is prayerfully and hopefully dedicated by

The Author.

Preface

The writing of this book is a duty which was
deeply impressed upon my mind many years ago,
and which has been more deeply impressed since by
reason of the moans and cries of suffering animal
life by which I have been surrounded.

I have no ambition to gratify in offering the
book to the world beyond the good it may accom-
plish, in promoting kindness and preventing cruelty.

I have made many statements which I do not
pause to explain, but which are based upon positive
scientific and historical facts. I have the authori-
ties in my possession for reference when required.

The plan is to show that God, creating the en-
tire universe, the heavens, the earth and all things
therein, governs and controls this great cosmos in
accordance with an universal law of harmony and
goodness.

God has a design in creating one planet as well

7

8 PREFACE

as another, and one animal as well as another, and
His care extends alike to all.

It is hoped that the object of this book may not
be misunderstood and that the spirit of reverence
which pervades its pages may not be overlooked.
I accept the Bible as a Divine Revelation, and take
the Mosaic description of creation as a basis of my
work.

It is true that I continue where most theologians
leave off. Instead of limiting God's power and
goodness, I extend it. Yet I do not claim to have
discovered anything new, but only to expand the
thought of modern phenomena. What is now
known in science is the product of all ages. We of
to-day add our little mite to what is handed down
to us.

Rome borrowed from Greece, Greece from
Egypt, and Egypt, like China, is lost in the mists of
historic antiquity, and is supposed to have obtained
the light of knowledge from some still earlier
civilizations.

The twentieth century is the product of the nine-
teenth and the nineteenth of the eighteenth. No
scientist can grasp all the phenomena of a subject
at once ; the human faculties are not equal to such

PREFACE 9

an undertaking. Each investigator takes the facts
and experiences of others, and then begins to build
and expand until he too reaches his limit.

There are theologians to-day who halt and ques-
tion God's goodness, and His willingness to watch
over all His creatures with a tender care, ignoring
the fact that God has promised to restore all ani-
mal life to primeval peace and happiness.

In consequence they sink into a kind of fatalism,
which paralyzes their faculties until they hold
no definite ideas regarding the vastness and good-
ness of God.

From day to day and year to year we are coming
in contact with established theories which need re-
forming and as a consequence modern theology
must bend in that direction. Men of education are
sometimes ready to object to or repudiate doctrines
which lead to an extension of the higher attributes
of the Creator, if they seem to oppose long estab-
lished creeds and dogmas. They naturally wish to
find objections to any theory which is out of
the usual line of thought, and so take the well-
recognized means which have been so often em-
ployed in keeping back advancing truths.

The great majority of people drift along, many

IO PREFACE

times unconsciously, with old exploded ideas, having
no desire to fall in with the procession of reformers.

There is incredulity from ignorance as well as
from knowledge. If the distinguished philosophers
during the days of Copernicus had known the facts
which were afterwards fully established by him in
his philosophy of the solar system, they would not
have laughed him to scorn and stigmatized him as a
heretic.

The great philosopher Galileo wTas persecuted
and imprisoned and the great philosopher Bruno
was burned at the stake for advocating what to-day
are accepted astronomical facts, viz. : that the fixed
stars are suns scattered through space, accompanied
by satellites which bear the same relation to the
stars that our earth does to our sun, or our moon to
our earth. From the time of Pythagoras down to
the present day, a host of men of the highest intel-
lectual powers, as the result of scientific observa-
tion and research, have advocated a plurality of
worlds. By the use of powerful telescopes and
spectroscopes, astronomers are able to see into the
blue expanse of the heavens and investigate many
satellites which may be inhabitable worlds like ours,
provided by the goodness of our Heavenly Father

PREFACE II

for the future abode of all animal life. This may
seem visionary, but I believe, as the years roll on,
that God will inspire men with wisdom to discover
and to teach some such humane purpose. Many
wonderful revelations have come upon the scien-
tists of our time — revelations which the philoso-
phers of the days of Kepler and Newton never
thought of; great truths which have confirmed
the authenticity of God's revelation to man and
man's relation and duties to all creation.

With the great bulk of society, life is merely the
following of a few instincts with a perfect blindness
as to consequences. By individuals and by com-
munities alike, physical and moral evils are pa-
tiently endured, which a true knowledge of the
system of Providence would cause to be instantly
redressed.

The philosophy set forth in this book extends the
principles of humanity to all animal life, and shows
the near relation of man to other animals in phys-
ical and mental phenomena. The doctrine is advo-
cated that we are morally bound to respect the
feelings and rights of animals as descendants from
the same Creator, even as we do those of our human
associates.

12 PREFACE

From obeying these moral laws, we shall reap as
certain a harvest of benefits to ourselves as by
obeying any other code of laws ever established.
The various forms of wanton cruelty which have
hitherto prevailed throughout the world's history
will cease when the day of knowledge herein advo-
cated is ushered in through the glorious light of the
true revelation of God's purposes.

Viewing Him as the Creator of all living things,
and seeing that the whole of creation is constructed
upon a plan of benevolence and justice, we expand
to loftier, more generous and more holy emotions
as we feel that we are only a part of a system,
much of which has not yet been revealed.

The place man holds as compared with the whole
universe of God's creation is humble beyond all
statement of degrees. Man, considered zoologically
and without regard to the distinct characters as-
signed to him by theology, simply takes his place
as an animal of the mammalia class, and nothing
more.

Above him is the higher creation of angels, arch-
angels, cherubim and seraphim, and of innumerable
worlds of which we know very little.

The theory of the immortality of animals is

PREFACE 13

advocated throughout this book from a Biblical
and philosophical hypothesis. There is a law in
physics that nothing is lost, and so we reason. All
potential forces and substances in nature are inde-
structible and eternal. Matter and soul — or mind
— are the only constituent elements in the universe,
and they both exist alike in man and in the lower
animals. The body, which is matter, changes its
form at death ; but that mysterious life potency,
known as the soul or mind, is immaterial and im-
mortal, and returns to God who gave it.

Man and the lower animals are not immortal from
choice, but because the Creator has decreed it, and
what God has created He alone can annihilate.
That there will be a general restoration of all ani-
mal life is the most liberal and reasonable conclu-
sion of modern theology. That God has made
ample provision and revealed sufficient evidence
for such restoration is offered in good faith. But
this is not offered as an incentive for man to be
kind to animals, as it makes no difference whether
they have souls or not, the obligation remains the
same. We do not stop to ask whether a helpless
woman or child has a soul when we see one in dis-
tress or cruelly treated, neither should we ask the

14 PREFACE

question about any other suffering being. There
are kind-hearted people who do not believe the
Bible, and consequently do not believe that either
man or lower animals have souls ; yet they recog-
nize the moral law of kindness to all living crea-
tures as much as some Christians, and, many times,
even more.

If the Church was more active and liberal in ex-
tending the knowledge of God's attributes of good-
ness and mercy over all His creatures, she might
have more friends and adherents.

The spirit of charity has been so carefully ob-
served throughout this volume that I believe there
is not a sentence or word used which will tend to
lower or reflect upon the dignity of any animal or
its mode of life.

No mention is made of animals preying one upon
another, as I regard this state of depravity in the
same light as the preying of men upon each
other ; namely, the result of the original sin of
man, which caused the fall of all living beings from
primeval peace and happiness. In order to make
this work of a permanent nature, I have avoided
the use of such events as I thought might become
trite and out of date.

PREFACE 15

The arguments on the leading subjects could be
greatly extended, but the work has been condensed
to meet the exactions of a busy world. The whole
ground of the animal question has been considered
in its various phases, but the main feature of the
work is the " Immortality of Animals," and a plea
for their kind treatment.

So far as I have been able to ascertain, in this
country and in Europe, this is the only work ever
published which treats of the immortality of ani-
mals from a Biblical and philosophical hypothesis,
or from the standpoint of revealed and natural
theology. As there is a growing demand for hu-
mane literature, it is hoped that this work may be
given a wide circulation by the friends of the cause.
Finally, I offer this book to the world with the
prayer that God in His infinite goodness and mercy
may put it into the hearts of mankind to be more
kind and merciful to all living creatures.

E. D. BUCKNER.

Introduction

Many subjects of transcendent importance are
shrouded in inherited misconceptions and vague
prejudices. They await congenial temperaments, in-
dustry, and the peculiar intelligence necessary to pre-
sent them in their true lights, tempered to compre-
hensions fatigued by the incessant cares of active life.
Some of these appeal to the loftiest conceptions
and emotions ; they protrude themselves with such
force as to overwhelm the disposition to lay them
aside for consideration at a more convenient season.
Dr. Buckner has chosen one of the most touching
of them, confronting us with duties and responsi-
bilities, of which we have been scarcely conscious,
and has been successful in catching the discordant
tones and arranging them in a pleasing symphony.

He reminds us that nothing is annihilated in
the processes of nature ; even in death there is a
mere diffusion or rupture in the relationship of cer-
tain chemical elements of which the body is com-

*7

1 8 INTRO D UCTION

posed, to assume other functions, the decomposition
dissolving the ephemeral dwelling of man's spiritual
essence, summoned elsewhere, perhaps to bear wit-
ness to deeds done in the flesh, perhaps to take rest
until the day when it shall be called upon to resume
its offices in a rehabilitated body.

The Unity of Life is no longer in controversy ;
science has reluctantly been driven to accept it, and
intelligence finds a ready solution of wearying in-
consistencies in the reasonable conviction that all
animals have the same origin with man ; receive
the same parental solicitude in infancy ; display
the same mental attributes in varying degrees con-
sistent with their calling ; possess similar passions,
from exquisite tenderness to savage brutality ; per-
form the duties assigned to them with commend-
able integrity, receiving from man the infamous
return of ingratitude and treachery while they par-
take to the fullest extent in the results of his fall.
In short, as all have the same origin and experi-
ences in life, as all die the same death, all shall
share the same destiny. If salvation be made per-
fect through suffering ; if felicity shall be granted
to man in consideration of a well spent life and in
recompense for his mundane sufferings, how can

INTRO D UCTION 1 9

his innocent and trusting companions, constant and
true as they have been from infancy to death, fail
of some similar eternal reward ?

The most eminent scientist of this country,
Agassiz, thoroughly believed in the immortality of
animals. More than one hundred and seventy
English authors, lay and clerical, uphold it and
have written in its support, and the belief is gain-
ing ground steadily. Whoever desires light upon
the subject and approaches the perusal of Dr.
Buckner's book with a sympathy for all God's crea-
tures, will not fail to obtain the solace which his
spirit needs, and a much enlarged sense of man's
responsibilities towards his humbler fellow-crea-
tures, with an additional interest in them and in
their welfare.

Dr. Buckner claims with justice that animals
were given us as companions to contribute to our
gratification and reasonable service, and moreover
shows that God breathed into their nostrils the
breath of life as He did into ours; and that the
Scripture conveys and reiterates the assurance that
they possess, with mankind, souls, and shall be de-
livered from the bondage of corruption into an
abode of future happiness.

20 INTRODUCTION

The author discourses fluently upon these sub-
jects and with authority, clinging with conscien-
tious scruple to what is upright and comely, and he
illustrates his points with precision and delicacy.
He has been careful to avoid cause of offense, and
nowhere are his claims unreasonable.

He treads the fields of philosophy as well as the
sacred and fragrant gardens of revelation, and his
methods of availing of their fertility are profitable
and convincing.

The whole question is treated by competent au-
thority, and is replete with intense interest; the
book should commend itself to universal attention.

H. O. Haughton,

Editor of Tlie Dawn.
Baltimore, Md., March 20, 1903.

Contents

Chap. page

I. Interpretation of the Bible. — Creation 23

II. The Garden of Eden. — The fall of man and the lower

animals 42

III. The Christian Era. — The restoration from the fall . . 52

IV. The New Testament animals' best friend. — Christ as

a humane teacher 60

V. The Bible teaches the immortality of animals. —

Opinions of some great authors 73

VI. Animals promised a Paradise. — Commanded to praise

their Creator 90

VII. Natural theology. — Philosophy of the soul 107

VIII. Physiology and natural theology. — The body governed

by immaterial forces 122

IX. Instances of animal intelligence. — Power of reasoning, 132

X. Instinct is immortal. — Difference between educated

and uneducated animals 151

XI. Anatomical analogy of animals. — Comparative psy-
chology 170

XII. Chemical composition of animals. — Cruel anatomists . 183

XIII. Infelicity of animals. — They possess a moral sense . . 201

XIV. Future abode of animals. — A plurality of worlds . . . 213
XV. Man as guardian of the lower animals. — Moral duty to

be kind 231

XVI. Means of preventing cruelty. — An early humane

education necessary 256

XVII. Some prominent evils. — A necessity for a future

reward 280

21

The Immortality of Animals

CHAPTER I

INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE — CREATION

Revealed theology — Definition of words — Bible definition of soul
— It belongs alike to man and lower animals — God has decreed
that all creatures that possess the breath of life shall live forever.

Whether death terminates the existence of ani-
mal life or gives to that existence a new and more
vigorous impulse in another world, is a question
which has undergone various changes in different
epochs of theological history. But sages and phi-
losophers of all ages have taught that man and the
lower animals are animated by some higher prin-
ciple than mere matter and motion, and that the
principle called soul, or mind, is independent of the
body, and is immaterial and immortal. The word
soul in its original signification stood for the prin-
ciples which govern life both in man and the lower

23

24 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

animals. It is true that the modes of explaining it
were various. Sometimes it was regarded as the
mere harmony of the bodily functions, and some
times as a distinct entity of higher ethereal nature,
but no essential distinction was made between the
soul of man and the soul of the lower animals until
a comparatively recent date.

The mental differences between the lower animals
and man suggested to ancient philosophers that
there should be a line drawn somewhere. To meet
this distinction the Stoics, the disciples of Socrates,
maintained that man possessed a rational soul above
that of the animal soul which belonged in common
to man and animals, but nowhere denied the fact
of animals having souls. This gracious privilege
of denying the right of animals to keep the soul
their Creator gave them comes from our modern
theology, and is ingrafted in the creeds of some
of our churches. But whatever distinction has
been made between the soul of man and the
soul of animals has been made by man and not
God.

In considering this metaphysical and psycholog-
ical subject I shall attempt to deal with it as a
single phenomenon of nature which is to be inter-

CREATION 25

rogated for its evidence, without any solicitude for
the fate of a preconceived theory, and without
asking how this evidence is to be reconciled with
that derived from other sources. I claim that no
sentiment or fact plainly contained in the Scrip-
tures need be refused or contradicted on account of
its apparent incongruity with systematic theology.
By this liberal interpretation only is it possible for
the whole amount of religious knowledge intended
to be imparted by the Scriptures to be gathered
from them. It is a deplorable fact that many
Christians are so accustomed to a certain creed and
dogma of their own that they will adhere to it
even at the sacrifice of the great moral laws of love
and of mercy. We are too liable to forget that
those who differ from us may be just as sincere and
honest in their belief and just as competent to form
a correct interpretation of the Scriptures as we are.
And it must be admitted that after all possible
scientific research, we can scarcely penetrate be-
yond the exterior movement of the material sys-
tem ; while the vast interior mechanism of nature
is concealed and is in itself strictly incomprehensi-
ble by human knowledge.
It must be granted as certain that whatever

26 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

relates to infinity ; to the divine nature ; to the
ultimate purpose of the divine government ; to the
unseen worlds and to the future state, and even to
the mechanism of motives in the great cosmos, must
offer itself to the human understanding in a form
beset with mysteries and difficulties.

If therefore we resolve to receive from the
Inspired Writings nothing but what we can recon-
cile with certain abstruse notions and partial inter-
pretation of passages, the consequence is inevitable :
we shall obtain a very limited and pitiful system of
theology.

It is reasonable to suppose that there are treas-
ures of divine knowledge yet latent beneath the
surface of the divine writings which the practice of
scholastic exposition so long adhered to, on all sides,
has locked up from the knowledge and use of the
world.

It is to be hoped that when the simple and
humble style of inductive interpretation is better
understood, and more consistently resorted to, and
when the necessary imperfections and incoherency
of all human knowledge of divine things is fully
recognized, we may see a better world.

The vain attempt to fashion a miniature model

CREA TION 27

of the spiritual universe and limit God's benefi-
cence to a fractional part of His creation must
be abandoned, together with all other narrow,
absurd doctrines, if theology expects to keep up
with modern philosophy.

While the subject of the immortality of animals
is not new, yet I know of no attempt to treat it, as
I have done, from the hypothesis of revealed and
natural theology.

By revealed theology we have been taught to be-
lieve in the immortality of the soul. Existence, in
the case of man, has been considered by the Church
from its very foundation, indestructible, and it
is not my purpose to dwell on what is now consid-
ered common orthodoxy. The Church teaches that
man and the lower animals have to die, that all souls
are immortal, and that all men have souls. This be-
ing admitted I am required only to prove that
lower animals have souls.

The main philosophical hypothesis I present is
that the same analogy of logic which can be
adduced to demonstrate the fact that men have
souls will apply to lower animals. In dealing with
the subject it is well at the beginning to define
the meaning of some words.

28 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

The word man, in a theological sense, means all
the descendants from Adam including both sexes ;
and in a zoological sense man is an animal, placed
as the highest type of the mammalia. The word
animal, in a general sense, means all living be-
ings under the various terms of man, beast, fowl,
fish, bird, etc., which are classed under various sub-
divisions. In order to make the distinction clear, I
use the ambiguous term lower animals, when I do
not wish to include man.

Animal life is that state of existence in which
the vital organs are capable of performing their
functions. It is that period during which the body
and soul are united.

By the functions of animals is understood the
operation of the various organs which constitute
vital action, therefore life consists of a constant
series of actions from the period of birth to the
moment of dissolution.

The constituent and essential parts of man
and lower animals consist of two things, known
in nature as matter and mind, or body and soul.
The body was originally made out of the dust of
the earth, and the soul is that vital energy breathed
into all animals by the Creator. This mysterious

CREA TION 29

life potency of animals which is a separate thing
from the body has been known under various
names, yet it is commonly recognized as mind
or soul, and as that immaterial, immortal principle
which goes to form all animal life.

There are many words used, in a theological
sense, to express the immaterial part of man. The
words "soul," "mind," "spirit," "ghost" and
"eternal life," are among those most frequently
used, but as they all convey the same idea it is of
no consequence which is employed. I prefer to use
the word "soul" as it was the word God used
at the beginning of creation to distinguish the
immortal from the mortal part of the body.

Webster's dictionary which has been the standard
authority in theology, as well as in other branches
of philosophy, for nearly a century, during which
time it has undergone various revisions, corrected by
the leading theologians of all churches and creeds,
defines the mind as " the entire spiritual nature ;
the soul." And in defining the soul it calls it the
"spiritual, rational, and immortal part of man,
the seat of real life or vitality." In defining spirit
(Heb. ruach, Gr. pneuma, Lat. spiritus) it says it is
" life or living substance considered independently

30 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of corporal existence. The intelligent, immaterial,
and immortal part of man ; the soul. A disem-
bodied soul, the soul after it has left the body."
It gives the definition of the old Saxon word,
ghost, as meaning " the spirit or soul." Therefore
it is plain that the word soul is the best word
which can be used to express the immaterial part
of a living being.

All other terms such as mind, will, sensation,
reason, volition, instinct, etc., are faculties of the
soul and subordinate to it, in the same way as the at-
tributes of God are a part of Him. Now we have
matter and soul as the only elements of the
universe, and lower animals as well as man are
composed of these two substances. The soul has a
distinct nature and it is a distinct reality from the
body ; a substance immaterial and essentially
different from matter.

That all animals are dual beings possessing a
double organism, the one structure being corporal,
visible, and tangible, the other incorporal, invisible,
and intangible, is an assumption which cannot be
disproved.

Man and the lower animals were made out of
the same chemical elements, and were given life

CREATION 31

from the same Creator. That there are grades of
being in both man and animals is obvious, but this
does not change the Creator's design which has
placed all under one common law.

Mind and matter exist in all alike and though
there may be a difference in degree there is no
difference in kind. In proportion as the functions
or relations are more or less perfect, animals
ascend and descend in the scale of existence, but
nowhere does God show any favoritism on ac-
count of such differences.

By the same analogy and logic which is used to
prove by the Bible that men have souls, we can
equally prove that lower animals have souls.

In the argument in either case we meet with
many obscure and seemingly contradictory pas-
sages. To comprehend the meaning of the Bible
we must take into consideration the original
language from which it is derived and the prob-
able prejudice brought to bear on the transla-
tors.

Throughout this work I have carefully examined
the best authorities and make no statement which
cannot be fully substantiated.

It must not be forgotten that our present Eng-

32 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

lish version dates back only to 1611, and it is be-
yond this date that scholars go to ascertain the
original meaning of words. The Old Testament
was written in the Hebrew language and the New
Testament in the Greek, but the Bible has under-
gone various translations. The Septuagint version
or translation of the Old Testament into Greek is
of vast importance in showing the original lan-
guage of the Hebrew at that time. And there is
to-day a great difference in the opinions of Hebrew
and Greek scholars about the meaning of many
words in the translation.

The Hebrew text of the Old Testament is
acknowledged by all scholars to be the most accu-
rate. Marginal notes and comments are numerous
in all of the old translations, but most of them
have disappeared from our present English version.
It is well to keep in mind that the Hebrew word
for the soul is nephesh and the Greek word psyche.
The two words mean the same thing, and the
Greek word psyche is the only word in the New
Testament which is translated soul.

Now let us see wherein the Bible implies as well
as expresses the doctrine that animals have souls.
God in the beginning of time called into existence

CREATION 33

the heavens, the earth, and all things living and
moving therein.

This entire creation was divided into a series of
six periods, or epochs, in each of which a new life
potency entered into what at that time existed, and
called forth new developments which go on accord-
ing to His law. In the sixth day or epoch, which
was the last period of creation, God finished His
work by creating all animal life. All animals,
including man, were formed out of the earth. There
was no distinction.

The same term, made, " bara," was used for both
man and lower animals. There was no preference
given to man over other animals as is usually
claimed by modern theology. When God created
the lower animals and mankind He included all in
the same benediction and " blessed them " and pro-
nounced them " very good."

And in this connection I wish to call attention to
the fact that man and lower animals had provided
for them the same kind of food, all of which was
vegetable. There was no preying upon each other
and no death, but all lived at peace as one great,
happy family.

In the next chapter of Genesis, in again bringing

34 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

up the subject of creation for the purpose of giving
the history of the fall of man, the divine writer
gives the " generation " or history by repeating the
same method, that man and lower animals were
formed out of the earth.

Here, for the first and only time, the particular
manner of how life was imparted was given in the case
of Adam. The inspired writer says, " God breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became
a living soul." As to what methods were used to
impart life to the other animals and to Eve we are
not informed. But to say that God used one way
for lower animals, one for man and one for woman,
when all were made of the same chemical constit-
uents, would be contrary to any system of analogy
known to reason. Any Bible student knows that
there are many things understood which are not
expressed throughout the entire Bible, therefore
whatever is understood by the words, " breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and man became
a living soul," is implied, though it is not expressed,
in the creation of all other forms of animal life.
No animal could live without the breath of life, and
as the divine writer said nothing about the manner
of its being imparted, it must be assumed that God

CREATION 35

breathed into the animals and woman, the breath
of life and they became living souls. Any other
assumption would be illogical.

In describing the creation of woman, nothing is
said about the breath of life or a living soul. Now
must we infer that she, like the lower animals, is
denied a soul because the special manner of impart-
ing life is not mentioned ? And yet if you deny
that animals have souls, because the mode in which
they received them is not mentioned, you will cer-
tainly have to exclude women from having souls
upon the same hypothesis, which has been done by
some crude forms of religion. The Bible plainly
infers that whatever process was involved in bestow-
ing the breath of life in the case of Adam was
followed wTith all other created beings. In refer-
ence to the flood, the inspired writer in Genesis
7 : 21, 22, says : " All flesh died that moved upon
the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts,
and of every creeping thing, and every man, all in
whose nostrils w7as the breath of life."

I have so far used the English version in what
I have said as to the soul. A few facts from older
versions I will now mention in evidence.

It is acknowledged by all the best Greek and

36 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Hebrew scholars to-day that, in every passage of
Scripture where the Hebrew word nephesh or the
Greek word psyche is used, it should be translated
soul, and when nephesh chayah is used it should be
translated living soul. This is admitted by the
marginal reading found in many old English Bibles.
In Genesis 2 : 7, when the divine writer speaks of
Adam, the translation is correct, as it reads in the
Hebrew, nephesh chayah, which translated into
English means a living soul ; but there are nine more
passages in Genesis where the same Hebrew words
are used, but as they refer to lower animals the true
meaning has been perverted by the English transla-
tion.

We read : " God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath a living
soul." The Hebrew text reads nephesh, soul, and
chayah, living, and the English version has it " life,"
but on the margin of many Bibles "living soul."

Again we read, " And God created great whales
and every living soul." Hebrew, nephesh chayah,
the English version, " living creature." Again we
read, " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the
living soul after its kind, cattle and creeping things
and beasts of the earth." This is the proper read-

CREA TION 17

ing, but the English version has it "living crea-
ture."

I will call your attention to one more passage in
this connection : " To every beast of the earth and
to every fowl of the air and to everything that
creepeth upon the earth wherein there is a living
soul."

The Hebrew text is given in plain words nephesh
chayah. The English version gives it " life," but in
many Bibles in the marginal reading it is rendered
" a living soul." I have before me a Bible published
in 1867 by the American Bible Society, which gives
in the margin the words " living soul " in this last,
and two more similar passages. I recently exam-
ined a large number of Bibles in a repository and
continued my researches until I found one hundred
giving the words " living soul " in the margin where
the word " life " is used in the text of the English
version.

Kev. Dr. Bush, in his commentary on Genesis,
makes the following plain statement : " The phrase
' living soul ' is repeatedly applied to the inferior
order of animals. It would seem to mean the same
when spoken of man that it does when spoken of
beasts, viz., an animated being, a creature possessed

38 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of life and sensation, and capable of performing all
the physical functions by which life is distinguished,
and we find no terms in the Bible to distinguish the
intellectual faculties of man from the brute crea-
tion."

I will call the reader's attention to two more
passages wherein the word soul is translated as it
should be. In Numbers 31 : 28, God said, " Levy a
tribute unto the Lord, one soul of five hundred,
both of the persons, and of the beeves and of
the asses and of the sheep." In Eevelations 16:3,
we find these words : " Every living soul died in the
sea."

It would be useless to continue these quotations
as the reader can see that, if I am correct, the Bible,
without the shadow of a doubt, recognizes that
animals have living souls the same as man.

Most of the quotations given are represented
as having been spoken by the Creator Himself
and He certainly knows whether or not He gave to
man and lower animals alike a living soul, which of
course means an immortal soul, as there cannot be
a living soul without its being immortal.

In determining the meaning of the Bible, we
should rest our belief, not on what man would have

CREA TION 39

us believe, but on what God would have us believe.
If God, in His revealed word, had intended to
convey the idea that man was created immortal
and animals were not, He certainly would not have
made a plain statement that all were created
alike.

Comparative psychology is opening up a wonder-
ful field for scientific research, and we are learning
to know God's purposes through nature as well as
revelation. All animal life is formed upon one
common general law, and shows conclusively that
if man is a dual being, composed of matter and
mind, or body and soul, so are all other animals.
If God created one and imparted to it the breath of
life and an immortal soul, He made all others on the
same plan ; for it is obvious that there is that same
visible difference between matter and mind in
all living beings.

The vital principle which sets in motion the
functions of the organism producing thoughts, feel-
ings, sensation, and motion, differs from that which
builds up the physical organization. It is common
to all sensitive and perceptive living beings, to
both man and lower animals, and though the word
soul goes under various names, it was used by the

40 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

inspired writer to convey the idea of a living
principle.

The body does not consist merely of matter,
of which it may be composed at any given moment,
and which is constantly changing, but of that
immortal vital energy which can no more die than
the immaterial substance known as gravitation, co-
hesion, or affinity.

We have no evidence on which to affirm that ex-
istence once imparted ever has been, or ever will
be, absolutely annihilated. It may undergo pro-
digious changes; its combinations may be dis-
solved, its elements scattered; it may be released
from the obligations of one set of laws, and be sub-
ject to another totally different ; organization may
be destroyed, and its component parts broken into
a thousand fragments ; life may be extinguished ;
the body may utterly perish ; and yet there is no
annihilation of the life potency or soul.

Certainly, to reduce any substance into nothing
requires just the same power as to convert nothing
into something. The Creator, who called all ex-
istence into being, could annihilate it all, or any
portion of it, just as easily as He gave it birth.
Man and lower animals are not immortal from

CREATION 41

choice but because that beneficent Being who
created them has willed that they shall be so.
They cannot cease to be because God resolves
to uphold them in an eternal existence.

Socrates admitted the immortality of all animal
life, and maintained that " the bodies of men and
beasts are warm and living as long as they breathe,
and as soon as the breath leaves the body, not only
do warmth and motion cease, but the body begins
to decay. Life, therefore, is breath, and breath is
air, and as air is eternal and inseparable in its very
nature, therefore the soul or portion of air which
gave animation to the body will not perish at
the dissolution of the body." Elihu conveys the
same idea when he says : " The Spirit of God
hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty
hath given me life." Therefore if the breath
which inflated Adam's nostrils was a particle of
Divine essence which imparted immortality to man,
then we must conclude that all other animals have
the same kind of immortality, for they received the
same kind of breath.

As Solomon says of man and the lower animals,
" They have all one breath ; so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast."

CHAPTER II

THE GAKDEN OF EDEN — THE FALL OF MAN AND
THE LOWER ANIMALS

All animals in perfect peace and happiness — Man as guardian —
No preying on each other, and no death — All commanded to use
vegetable food — Cosmical derangement caused by the fall.

The next important epoch in Bible history which
affects alike man and the lower animals, and which
I wish to call attention to, is the fall from the happy
and exalted position they occupied in the Garden
of Eden.

When God created man and the lower animals,
He placed them in a large garden of rich fertile
soil with an abundance of fruit, nuts, herbs, grass,
plants, flowers, and all kinds of vegetation for use
and ornament. This garden was abundantly pro-
vided with springs, brooks, and rivers.

In order that every kind of animal might have a
happy home, God gave them rich valleys, high
mountains, and great forests. The earth, teeming
with every variety of useful productions, was the
great storehouse of the Almighty, from which all

42

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 43

living things were commanded to help themselves.
They were all vegetarians, for they were com-
manded by the Creator to live on nothing else.
There was no necessity to destroy one life to sup-
port another.

Man and lower animals were commanded to mul-
tiply and replenish the earth, and sufficient vege-
table food was provided for all. Man had no more
right to kill and eat an animal than he had to
kill and eat his own offspring. He was created
a frugivorous animal ; and his natural food, by his
peculiar structure, appears to have consisted of
fruits and vegetables.

Man's short weak jaws, his canine teeth being
equal in length to the remaining teeth, and his tuber-
cular molars, would allow him neither to feed on
grass nor to devour flesh, were these aliments not
previously prepared by cooking, which art was not
discovered until after the fall of man. But when
once possessed of the use of fire, and those arts by
which man is aided in seizing1 animals or killing:
them at a distance, every living being was rendered
subservient to his use as well as abuse. By this
change of food man's health was impaired, and his
life has been growing shorter from age to age.

44 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Man being formed upright, he has the entire use
of his arms and hands which enables him to have
superiority over other animals in many respects;
and this, together with his cunning and intelligence,
has enabled him to tame, or repulse, or destroy,
other animals and thus become the " king of beasts "
or the " lord of creation." This was the result of
the fall; for before that sad event all lived together
as one great happy family, and Adam was the
guardian of them all. He called them by name ;
he had named " every living soul" and he was kind
and affectionate to them as their foster father.
They understood a language by which they were
able to communicate with each other. Adam and
Eve made their clothing out of vegetable products.
There were no deaths before the fall, and conse-
quently no skins were used for clothing until after
that event.

As each statement made by the inspired writer
usually represents a period of many years, some-
times thousands, there is no doubt that man and
the lower animals lived in the Garden of Eden, a
peaceful happy family, for a great number of years
before the fall.

In this primeval innocence, there was surpassing

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 45

beauty in every animate and inanimate object, and
every living thing in the heavens above and all
that moved in the waters or upon the earth below,
were at peace.

There was no fear of harm, and one hymn of
harmony and order ascended to the Creator from
all the tribes of earth and heaven. Well might the
angels sing and shout together for joy. A beauti-
ful order prevailed through all the various grada-
tions, from the lowest lifeless matter, up to the
fairest flower in the vegetable kingdom and the
tallest cedar in the garden of God ; and thence on
up through all the orders possessed by beautiful,
happy, and noble animals, to man, who was to have
dominion over all other animals. And to fit him
for this guardianship he was given superior intellect
and a dignified, upright, physical form. As he
was made guardian, the animals were affected by
his acts for good or evil, happiness or misery. All
things were placed under man even as he was un-
der God. It was his rank to inherit the world, and
his business to beautify and honor and extend his
dominion.

He was a father to all and they were under his
parental care and keeping. He, with all other crea-

46 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

tures, was pronounced " very good," and in that
respect represented the moral image of God. All
animals were created in the image of God in the
sense of being innocent, and as having the power of
motion, will, understanding, and freedom to act ; but
in no respect were man and the lower animals
created in the nature of God. In a physical and
moral sense man no more resembles God than the
lower animals do ; for God is a Spirit, without body
or parts, and is both visible and invisible, while
man and the lower animals are dual beings of both
soul and body.

Man and woman, then without the shadow of
guilt, were wandering through the rich garden of
the earth as the ornaments of all creation ; stopping
now and then perhaps to stroke the mane of a lion,
or to caress the affectionate dog, or to watch the
amusing antics of some playful animal, or to listen
to the sweet songs of the birds, or to pluck now and
then a beautiful flower. They were in the midst of
perfect peace and happiness. No need to worry,
for God would take care of them all.

The Biblical narrative suggests a beautiful and
happy picture of that first life. The young lions
and lambs scampered over the green sod and tumbled

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 47

over each other, while their fond mothers watched
the playful antics of their precious little ones. The
eagle and the dove, perched upon the same branch
of the great oak, cooed and called to each other.
The sweet songs of the birds mingled together
as they darted from branch to branch on the trees
along the banks of the river Pison. The cattle
wandered down to the river Hiddekel to quench
their thirst and to lie in the cool shade. The
playful monkeys scampered up and down the trees
on the banks of the river Gihon. The intelligent
dogs mingled with all other animals and had their
share of the joys of life. The noble horse and
the nimble deer galloped over the plains and rich
valleys of Assyria and drank of the pure water
of the Euphrates. All animals were contented
and happy, and mingled their voices in the praise
of their Creator.

Adam and Eve received from the kind hands of
their Creator blessings innumerable and precious,
and no doubt they at first cherished in their
hearts the warmest feelings of gratitude. The
lovely scenes of nature which surrounded them,
exciting their daily admiration, appeared in their
view as a mirror on whose polished surface they

48 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

might trace the reflected wisdom and goodness of
God.

The murmuring streams and gentle breeze whis-
pered God's name; the birds floating in the air, .
the cattle grazing in the fields, the sagacity of the
elephant and the dog, the human-Kke cunning of
the monkey, the beautiful plumage of the peacock,
all bespoke His goodness and wisdom; and the
heavens above and the earth beneath all portrayed
His power and love. "Would that we could stop
here, and draw a curtain over the dismal future
and hide historical facts. The imagination faints
beneath its own conception of the great and awful
transformation which follows. This change is the
saddest epoch in man's history.

"While man was surrounded with the law of na-
ture which was impressed on his mind by the
design and beauty of what he observed, God had
given him a positive law, under penalty of death
in case he should violate it ; and as the result man,
the most dignified of the whole creation, was the
first to derange this grand cosmical system by break-
ing the law and entailing on himself and on the
lower animals death and every form of misery, sin,
and sorrow with which we are to-day surrounded.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 49

Then it was, when God's law was violated and
dishonored, that darkness usurped the place of
light, discord the place of harmony, pollution the
place of purity, sorrow the place of joy, and cruelty
the place of mercy.

There was not an animal of the field, nor a fowl
of the air, nor a fish of the water, nor a flower of
the garden, nor a tree of the forest, nor a stream in
the valley, nor a breeze in the air, but was involved
and affected by man's fall ; for all fell with him.

As the result, man was driven from the garden
never again to gaze upon it. The very spot was
cursed and blotted out from all future recognition ;
and briars, thorns, thistles, deserts, and desolation
were spread over that part of the earth. Every-
where and in everything to-day we see signs and
evidences of the curse inflicted upon the world for
man's sin. Man, instead of having that sinless, holy
image of God, soon plunged into jealousy, falsehood,
and murder. His history has ever since been a his-
tory of sin, cruelty, carnage, bloody deeds, and wars.

There is not an ache, nor a pain, nor a moan, nor
a cry in animal life but is due to the fall of man.
What was once'innocent, happ}% affectionate animal
nature was changed to a more savage nature. Thus,

50 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

as the consequence of man's sin, the lower animals,
which were not guilty of sin nor had any lot or
part in the cause of the fall, are made to undergo
a share of his punishment. This is the sad condi-
tion which draws into the same abyss of plrysical
and moral misery the whole creation of which
Adam was the head as guardian.

"See the countless multitude above us,
Claiming sympathy — our humble kin ;
Sadly have they learned to fear and doubt us,

Driven from our side by human sin ;
Yet, though dumb, their hearts to ours are speaking,
Help and kindness from us ever seeking,
Kindness hard to win.

" Innocent of wrong, our own transgression
Lays on them a heavy load of pain,
Sharing all the misery and oppression

Man has wrought beneath his iron reign.
Touch all hearts, O Thou Divine Compassion,
Till they burn with generous love and passion
To remove the stain."

There are many mysteries in connection with the
fall of man, but the result is obvious. That the
lower animals were immortal before the fall is as
clearly taught as that man was immortal.

The Old Testament tells us • how the soul
originated and why it is immortal, and the New

THE GARDEN OF EDEN 51

Testament confirms what was said in the Old
Testament. The Bible does not say, in so many
words, that either man or lower animals were
immortal before the fall, but certainly infers that
both were.

There are many things in the Bible which must
be understood, though they may not be expressed,
or the text would have no meaning whatever.
This is true of the command not to eat of the for-
bidden fruit. The command was not given to
the woman, as is generally taught. Adam received
the command before Eve was created, and if she
ever received the command it must be implied, be-
cause it is not expressed. If man had not violated
the law given him, he and all other animals would
not only have had the continuance of their souls
and bodies but would probably have been trans-
ported to an upper paradise or higher heaven in
some distant planet where sufficient room had been
prepared for all.

CHAPTER III

THE CHRISTIAN ERA — THE RESTORATION FROM

THE FALL

The atonement sufficient to include the salvation of lower ani-
mals— All on an equality — The original purpose of the Creator
cannot be fulfilled until animals are restored to the condition they
enjoyed before the fall.

The Christian era is the next important part of
Bible history which affects man and lower animals.

Though man had fallen by his disobedience to
the Divine law, God, in His infinite love and
mercy, made a provision for his relief. A de-
liverer was promised who would conquer the
enemy, and so that which was lost in the fall should
be restored.

Christ, according to Divine purpose, came in the
fulness of time to be the Saviour of the lost, and
by virtue of His suffering and death, all under
certain conditions are justified from the curse of
the law.

" As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be
made alive." According to the accepted doctrine

52

THE CHRISTIAN ERA 53

of modern theology, the Bible teaches that man
everywhere is required to believe that Christ
is the true Messiah, and then to repent of his sins,
conform to the rules of the Church, and live a con-
sistent Christian life, in order to be saved.

Modern theology takes the broad view that
salvation was commensurate with all conditions,
and of intrinsic value sufficient to expiate the sins
of the whole world ; that " Christ is the propitia-
tion for our sins, not for ours only, but for the sins
of the whole world."

Modern theology makes conditions for this salva-
tion ; but for those who are deprived of the
privilege of hearing the gospel, and for those who
may hear but cannot understand, the atonement
has been made sufficient.

The greatest number of God's creatures come
under the latter clause, which includes the heathen,
idiots, children, and animals. Animals cannot un-
derstand the plan of salvation, and are not under
the moral law, for " where no law is there is no
transgression."

The New Testament teaches that suffering inno-
cence, under all conditions, shall be rewarded in
the final administration of justice, and as animals

54 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

are not subject to any moral law and cannot sin,
there must be a future reward for their untold
suffering in this life.

A man who is capable of understanding the
moral law which has been given him may violate
it and forfeit every advantage he was capable of
possessing, and have nothing left him but the sad
expectation of a dreadful sentence and a terrible
doom.

In such a deplorable situation we often hear men
wish they were animals, or at least as innocent as a
dove or a lamb. And why not ? Far better a
sinless dove sitting upon the branch of a tree,
cooing the plaintive song the great Teacher has
taught it, than a wicked man with an appalling
apprehension of a miserable future and a certain
prospect of perdition staring him in the face.
Therefore if a man becomes wretched in the future
it is his own fault ; for he had the opportunity and
the power to mount to a glorious state of purity
and happiness, and if he neglects these the blame is
not upon his Creator.

But on the other hand, if he makes a proper use
of his moral powers, and vanquishes, like a Christian
hero should, all the trials and difficulties that en-

THE CHRISTIAN ERA 55

compass him, he will have no occasion to murmur
at his lot or to envy the future happiness of beings
beneath him.

God has decreed that man shall be happy if he
will, and the means are placed within his power. If
he is ultimately miserable, it is the result of his own
unrestrained choice. Therefore God's purposes are
fulfilled either in his happiness or misery, because
He has purposed that he shall be happy if he will,
and that misery shall be the result of his disobedi-
ence. But though the lower animals never sinned
against God and are involved in the suffering of
sinful man without any fault of their own, yet
they have no choice or means of correcting their
misery. Now, it follows that the Creator, whose
" tender mercy is over all His works," and " whose
judgment is just," will find some means by which
these innocent suffering creatures shall be compen-
sated. That they have no compensation here, their
intense suffering, labors, and agonizing deaths prove;
and if they are to have any compensation, they must
have it in another state of existence. God must
have originally designed them for that measure of
happiness which is suited to the nature and power
He gave them, but they have been deprived of the

56 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

greater portion by the fall of man and the curse of
sin. It is then obvious that the original purpose of
the Creator has not been fulfilled in them and can-
not be until they are restored to the primeval
happiness they enjoyed before the fall.

Theology teaches that heathen, idiots, and chil-
dren are saved by reason of the fact that in them
the purposes of God have never been fulfilled, and
the responsibility for action never reached. Now
is it not a reasonable conclusion that God has pro-
vided immortality for animals on the same ground
that He has provided it for the heathen, the idiot,
and the child ? Each possesses a corporal structure
and a vital and mental organism, and why the Crea-
tor of all should decree that one should live forever
and the other be doomed to annihilation is a sad
problem to solve. But as mind, or soul, is discerni-
ble in the lower animals as well as in man, they
probably have the same assurance of immortality.

Sir Benjamin Brodie, of England, says : " The
mental principle in animals is of the same essence
as that of human beings ; so that even in the hum-
bler classes we may trace the rudiments of these
faculties to which, in their state of more complete
development, we are indebted for the grandest re-

THE CHRISTIAN ERA $7

suits of human genius. I am inclined to believe
that the minds of the inferior animals are essentially
of the same nature with that of the human race."

Eev. John Wesley's conclusion as to the nature of
the living soul imparted to Adam was that " God
gave him such life as other animals enjoy." The
inspired writer makes it plain when he says, " Yea,
they have all one breath so that a man hath no
preeminence above a beast."

When I reflect upon the marred, blackened, sin-
ful disorder of the moral world, and attempt to an-
swer the question as to why innocent animals have
to suffer agonizing pain and the tortures of death
for the comfort and amusement of man ; or why,
because of man's sinful disobedience, one animal has
to die to furnish food for another, I can only har-
monize the matter upon the hypothesis that the in-
finite goodness and justice of the All- Wise Creator
will somewhere and sometime provide a home of
eternal rest and happiness for animals. It seems
to me Nature teaches this, and justice and mercy
demand it.

Whether it is a question as to animals having im-
mortal souls or not, I prefer to stand firm, now and
forever, on this question of justice and mercy.

58 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

" For right is right, since God is God;
And right the day must win ;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin."

From a humane standpoint, why any Christian
should oppose the theory of the immortality of
animals seems strange to me. The doctrine is cer-
tainly a step higher in the ladder of Christian love
and fellowship. It adds another reason why Christ
"offered Himself a sacrifice for the sins of the
world," and is in harmony with the history of
God's dealing in the world and the attributes of
the Creator as we have learned them. It is a mis-
taken idea, on the part of the Church, to suppose
that it gives greater strength to the evidence for
the immortality of man to ignore the immortality
of lower animals ; for it is less difficult, as I shall
show further on, to convince the scientific world
that all animals have souls than it is to convince
scientists that man alone has a soul.

I cannot see that there was any distinction made
in the original creation, since man and the lower
animals were created out of like primary matter,
and have like organs, and each organ is subject to
like functions.

We see unity in all forms of creation of earth and

THE CHRISTIAN ERA 59

heaven, and we see it in animal life. We see evi-
dence of intelligence and goodness in nature, and
must conclude that the Author must be intelligent
and good.

The word God is synonymous with good, and
without His kindness and goodness manifested to
His creatures universally, we cannot understand
His attributes. "Thy righteousness is like the
great mountains ; O Lord, Thou preservest man and
beast."

CHAPTER IV

THE NEW TESTAMENT ANIMALS' BEST FRIEND
— CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER

The relation of Christ to lower animals— Duty of man to follow
His example — The folly of sacrifices — Abolished by the Christian
dispensation.

I have dwelt at some length on the teachings
of the first part of the Bible. I will now endeavor
to show wherein the New Testament is animals'
best friend. If by the original sin of man all ani-
mals were affected in the fall, and if by the atone-
ment of Christ man is affected in the restoration,
certainly lower animals are likewise affected. There
can be no other reasonable conclusion. Paul says
that "Adam was the figure of Him that was to
come ; " that is, Christ was to be the second Adam.
Now, under the first Adam, lower animals were
created without death or sin, but fell with man ; so
in the final destiny they will be restored with man
under the second Adam, for " as in Adam all die, so
in Christ shall all be made alive." As Christ came

into the world as a mediator to restore the fallen

60

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 6 1

condition of man and lower animals, the New Tes-
tament becomes the animals' Bible as well as the
Christians'. I make this statement with all rever-
ence, for we must admit that the world of reason
and justice is a part of the same creation, as the
world of matter and sense.

The Hindoos have their Vedas ; the Mohammed-
ans their Koran ; the Jews their Talmud ; the
Christians their Bible; and the animals have their
consolation and hope of restoration in the teachings
of the New Testament.

Christ, in His first sermon, " opened His mouth
and said : Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy." In all God's creation
no creatures were so " poor in spirit " as the lower
animals, and man cannot have his attention called
to a more humane expression than this : " Blessed
are the merciful."

Christ's teachings are of the most humane char-
acter. No doctrines ever offered to this benighted
sin-cursed world have done more to lessen the suf-
fering of animals than His. The pathetic history
of our Saviour's life furnishes a beautiful lesson as
to the proper relation of man to animals.

62 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Perhaps Christ was born among the cattle, the
sheep, the camels, and the dogs, in order that He
might, in some way unknown to us, alleviate the
condition of poor, forsaken, fallen animals. He rec-
ognizes in them qualities similar to His own. He
speaks of them as possessing sensitive natures capa-
ble of happiness and misery, and therefore enjoins
the duty of kindness and mercy towards all living
creatures.

Rev. Dr. Talmage in speaking on this subject
makes the following beautiful remarks : " Behold in
the first place, that on the first night of Christ's life
God honored the animal creation. You cannot get
into that Bethlehem barn without going past the
camels, the mules, the dogs, the oxen. The animals
of that stable heard the first cry of the infant Lord.
Some of the old painters represent the oxen and
camels kneeling that night before the new-born
babe. And well might they kneel. Have you ever
thought that Christ came, among other things, to
alleviate the sufferings of the animal creation?
Was it not appropriate that He should, during the
first few days and nights of His life on earth, be
surrounded by the dumb beasts whose moans and
plaint have for ages been a prayer to God for the

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 63

arresting of their tortures and the righting of their
wrongs ? It did not merely ' happen so,' that the
unintelligent creatures of God should have been
that night in close neighborhood. Not a kennel in
all the centuries, not a robbed bird's nest, not a
worn-out horse on the tow-path, not a herd freezing
in the poorly-built cow-pen, not a freight car bring-
ing the beeves to market without water through a
thousand miles of agony, not a surgeon's room wit-
nessing the struggles of the fox or rabbit or pigeon
or dog in the horrors of vivisection, but has an in-
terest in the fact that Christ was born in a stable
surrounded by animals. He remembers that night,
and the prayer He heard in their pitiful moan He
will answer in the punishment of those who mal-
treat them."

On many occasions Christ urges their meekness
and innocence upon His followers. He compares
Himself to an innocent dove and the meek and docile
lamb. "I am the door, by Me the sheep enter.
. . . He gathereth the lambs in His arms, and
carries them in His bosom, and gently leads those
that are with young."

The Saviour represents the spirit of kindness
in the figure of the Good Shepherd. He tells His

64 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

hearers that the birds of the air are fed by the
Divine Parent, without any provision of labor on
their part, and declares that the most insignificant
of them does not perish unnoticed by the Creator.

His mission on earth was designedly inaugurated
by the heavens opening and the Spirit like a dove de-
scending upon Him.

How fitting Christ's mission was to the fallen
world is represented by the likeness of one of
the innocent and helpless fallen. Christ went
about continually doing good in His labor of love
and mercy. He had no rest and knew no pleasure
but in doing His Father's business, working the
work of Him who sent Him, which may all be com-
prehended in one text, " to seek and to save that
which was lost."

His influence should implant a principle in the
hearts of His followers, causing them to imitate His
oxample. There are plenty of opportunities. We
cannot walk abroad without being assailed by the
cry of helplessness or without coming into contact
with scenes of pain. These send forth an appeal
which cannot be misunderstood and ought not
to be disregarded. Christ's ready and tender na-
ture pitied and relieved the distressed. He taught

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 65

mankind to forgive offenses, to commiserate sor-
row, and relieve suffering. He commands us to
imitate the conduct of the charitable Samaritan, to
pity the distress even of an enemy, and to exert our
best endeavors for the relief of all suffering.

If we know nothing of the compassion of Jesus,
we know nothing of what true compassion is, or of
how it has been perfectly and affectionately dis-
played.

We love and admire the person who pities and
helps the afflicted, the distressed, the suffering.
We think with delight and exultation of the
tender and deep compassion of a Howard, a Brain-
ard, an Elliot, a Nightingale, a Bergh, a Cobbe, an
Angell, a Colam, and many others whose names are
justly inscribed on the pages of philanthropy.
They have been bright ornaments of humanity and
friends to the sorrowful and oppressed.

But a far more compassionate personage than
any of these, or any human being, was the Saviour
of the world who set the example for all mankind.
This ready and benevolent tendency of His nature,
to pity and relieve the miserable, was one of
the loveliest features in the character of our
Saviour.

66 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

He did not appear in the majesty of a sovereign
or the glory of a bloody conqueror. He occupied
a station not among the princes and potentates of
the world, but among the lowly and sorrowful.
His birth was even more humiliating and His bodily
wants greater than the animals with which He
was surrounded, for the foxes had holes and
the birds of the air had nests, while the Son of
Man had not where to lay His head.

There is another reason why the New Testament
is animals' best friend. Christ in offering Himself
as a living sacrifice for the sins of the world
established the fact that " to do justice and judg-
ment is more acceptable to the Lord than sac-
rifices."

He is represented as that bright and morning
Star which became the Light of the World and gave
to mankind a clear and full revelation of the nature
and perfections of God and made known the way
of reconciliation by offering Himself a living sacri-
fice for the world and thereby dispensing with any
further excuse for that sad rite of offering up
animal sacrifices.

How dark and confused were the notions of the
philosophers, at the time of the coming of Christ,

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 67

on the subject of animal sacrifices ! We cannot
find in the Bible a satisfactory reason why it was
first practiced. It did not restore fallen man to his
former holiness nor effect his salvation. If such
had been the case it would not have required the
sacrifice of the Son of God. Some theologians tell
us it was typical of the coming of Christ, but that
part of the Bible written before the coming of
Christ and during the time it was practiced does
not say so. We deny the right to such interpreta-
tion. Human reason cannot point out the fitness
or congruity between the slaying of an animal and
the reception by man of pardon for the violation of
God's law.

How the world came to practice sacrifices to
such an extent remains a profound mystery. Long
before the Christian era the Buddhist religion
repudiated the rite and prohibited its use in all the
Orient over which it had influence. Judaism was
the last to give up this sad and cruel ceremony.

It is certain that the wisest heathen philoso-
phers, Pythagoras, Plato, and others, opposed the
doctrine of sacrifice and " wondered how an institu-
tion so dismal and so big with absurdity could
<Muse itself through the world." They ridiculed

68 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

the idea that the offering of sacrifices could please
such a being as a true and living God.

Porphyry says, " We ought then, having been
united and made like to God, to offer our own con-
duct as a holy sacrifice to Him, the same being also
a hymn and our salvation in passionless excellence
of soul."

It is claimed that the reason it spread so ex-
tensively was that the priests who shared with
the gods and received the best portion of the meat,
were instrumental in urging it on. The early his-
tory of sacrifices as practiced by all nations shows
that they consisted of fruits, grain, and oil. The
sacrifice of living human beings and lower animals
was the outgrowth of a depraved cannibal nature
and the notion that it was surrounded with greater
mystical signification than other sacrifices. These
sacrifices were offered to all kinds of imaginary
gods and idols with the absurd notion that such
gods demanded the life of some innocent being.
Hence we find that each deity demanded a par-
ticular kind of victim.

One god was known as the " man-eater," another
as the "goat-eater," others as the "ram-eater,"
the " eater of raw flesh," etc. The Persians had

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 69

one god " who desired nothing but the souls of the
victims." The Arabs had one god who was very
charitable, and demanded only "half of the blood
of victims." The Romans had a carnivorous god
" who was wont to eat human flesh."

Some nations believed that by eating the flesh of
a victim its life would be renewed in the lives of
those who ate it ; hence the Issendones would eat
their parents and children in order to retain or per-
petuate the family.

Another prominent feature of sacrifice was the
supposed unity of kinship by mingling the blood
of the victim in the veins of the whole tribe. The
blood-covenant was formed by eating the same
victim and having the same kind of blood course
through the veins of all. But if this sacrificial
blood was not partaken of it was sprinkled over
the people for the same purpose.

Some portions of the Old Testament speak out
plainly against sacrifice, thus : " The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite
heart. . . . For I spake not unto your fathers
nor commanded them in the days that I brought
them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices. ... I delight not in

70 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of he-
goats. ... If I were hungry, I would not tell
thee : for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of
goats ? . . . Though you offer me burnt offer-
ings and your meat offerings I will not accept
them. . . . For I desire mercy and not sacri-
fice."

Throughout the Old Testament it was customary
when introducing any new law, command, or form
of worship, to say " the Lord said " so and so, and
thereby many things were put into the Lord's
mouth which He undoubtedly never said nor ap-
proved.

When the tabernacles or temples or places of
wrorship were mentioned everything was repre-
sented as being done for the Lord or in His pres-
ence, just as we now call a church the house of the
Lord and speak of God's altar within ; but in either
case it would be a reflection on the omniscience
and goodness of God to say that He approved of all
that was done and said in His name.

Rev. Dr. Robert Patterson, in his book entitled
" Fables of Infidelity," published by the Scriptural
Tract Repository, and endorsed by the Church,

CHRIST AS A HUMANE TEACHER 7 1

makes the following appropriate statement: "When
we say that God is the Author of the Bible, and
that it carries with it a divine authority because it
is the Word of God, we do not mean that God is
the Author of every saying in it, and that every
statement recorded in it is God's mind. Nor when
we say that God directed the prophets what to
write, and how to write it, do we mean that He
also so guided every piece of their behavior, as
that they never went wrong."

The clergyman of one church will contend that
the Lord commands him to say and do a certain
thing, "while the clergyman of another church will
contend that the Lord commands him to say and
do something entirely different.

The fact that a thing is done in the name of the
Deity does not make it right if it is not the ex-
pressed will of God. We see this illustrated when
a Hindoo mother makes a living sacrifice of her
infant by throwing it under the wheels of the
Juggernaut to be crushed to death in order to ap-
pease the supposed wrath of her god ; or when the
Indians, not a century ago, offered their annual
living sacrifice to the Great Father by sending one
of their tribe over Niagara Falls in a canoe. The

72 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

old adage, that believing a thing is right, does not
make it so, will apply in this case.

Finally the Christian dispensation has annihilated
the sad and repulsive ceremony of animal sacrifices
and that for us settles the question.

St. Paul says : " It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins. In
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had
no pleasure. And every priest standeth daily min-
istering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice,
which can never take away sins."

Now I do not wish to say anything derogatory
to the honor of that dispensation which the Al-
mighty for a time, and for a purpose, of which we
know but little, permitted ; but this much I will say,
that even in its best state the Mosaic economy was
characterized by obscurity, darkness, and suffering,
as compared with the glorious light of the gospel
ushered in by Christ who " appeared in the world
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

CHAPTER V

THE BIBLE TEACHES THE IMMORTALITY OF ANI-
MALS — OPINIONS OF SOME GREAT AUTHORS

God has never ceased to remember and care for all His creatures
— St. Paul believes in the final redemption of lower animals —
Transmigration of souls.

The undercurrent of Bible history shows con-
clusively that God has never lost sight of His care
and love for the lower animals as well as for man.
The language of Scripture everywhere teaches com-
passion and tenderness towards lower animals.
The person who fails to recognize this truth fails to
recognize the true meaning and force of some of
the most tender and instructive parables and pas-
sages of revelation. The qualities, the powers, the
beauties of lower animals, are declared to have been
specifically given them by the Creator.

All receive their appointed food from Him in
due season, and are called upon to praise Him.
Kindness to them is inculcated, and cruelty repro-
bated. The destruction of a wicked city was pro-
hibited for the sake of the lives of lower animals.

73

74 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

In the final state of the world the ferocious and
the carnivorous animals will change their destruc-
tive appetites and passions. They will eat vegetable
food, and become gentle, and exhibit kindly dispo-
sitions, and all will be restored to primeval peace
and happiness.

There is a current of thought from the beginning
to the end of the Bible which either expresses or
implies that animals share with man immortal life.

But in order to comprehend this mighty truth
we must lay aside prejudice and remember the va-
rious translations the Bible has undergone and the
indifference of theologians on this subject.

St. Paul in his letter to the Romans makes a
statement which cannot be interpreted to mean
anything else than that animals suffered equally
with man in the fall and will be restored through
Christ.

St. Paul says : " God having made known unto
us the mystery of His will according to His good
pleasure, that, in the dispensation of the fulness of
time, He might gather together in one all things in
Christ both which are in heaven and which are on
the earth. . . . For the earnest expectation of
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the

OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 7$

sons of God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who
hath subjected the same in hope, because the crea-
ture itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the chil-
dren of God. For we know that the whole crea-
tion groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which
have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of our body."

Every sentence in the above quotation proves
that animals have immortal souls and that they are
waiting for the redemption which was made
through the atonement of Christ. In the first sen-
tence quoted, when the inspired writer says God
will gather together, in one, all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on the
earth, He could not possibly limit " all things " to
man alone. No man of education would risk his
reputation by asserting that man alone was included.

In the next sentence the word creature cannot
mean man, for the writer declares that the whole
creation groaneth, and not only they, the creatures,
but ourselves, man, also.

y6 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

St. Paul gives us to understand that this suffering
of animals shall not be hopeless, but that they shall
be delivered together with man from the bondage of
corruption. By the word creature is understood all
living beings except man. He is not here implied,
as St. Paul kept men separate in order to make his
argument clear. The creature was made subject to
vanity, or sin ; not willingly, that is, not from choice,
but by reason of Him who subjected the same, that
is, through Adam, who by his transgression brought
the creature into bondage and subjection to the
evils of sin. The word creature is used to point
out the lower order of beings in contrast with man.
They shall be delivered from the bondage of corrup-
tion, (that is, from the state of decay which belongs
to the matter and not the soul), into the glorious
liberty of the children of God ; that is, into the same
happy condition of freedom and deliverance from
the evil, which will be the final privilege of the
redeemed.

That the creatures themselves, when this glory is
revealed in the sons of God. shall then also be de-
livered from the bondage of sin, in the final restitu-
tion, is plain. The word creature used in the sense
of the passage quoted is so very different in its pur-

OPINIONS OF GREA T A UTHORS 77

port from any passage wherein man is referred to
that there can be no parallel.1

John "Wesley, in speaking of a general restoration
of all animal life, says : " Nothing can be more
plainly expressed. Away with vulgar prejudice
and let the plain Word of God take its place.
They (the animals) shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into glorious liberty, even a
measure, according as they are capable, of the lib-
erty of the children of God. A general view of
that is given in the eighth chapter of Eomans.
Then the following blessing shall be given, not
only to the children of men, for there is no such re-
striction in the text, but to every creature accord-
ing to its capacity : ' God shall wipe away all tears

1 There is a plain distinction made by using in contrast the words
creature and they with man and ourselves. It is a plain observation
from nature, as well as revelation, that every inferior creature in
the universe travails in pain, and not only they, but we ourselves,
we of the human species, groan within ourselves, waiting for the
redemption of our bodies from the evils they now labor under.
The creatures or lower animals were made subject to vanity or sin
"through our offense," and groan under the curse of man's dis-
obedience, but in due time these poor creatures shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption and be restored along with man to
happiness. There shall be a "restoration of all things as God
hath promised by the mouth of all His holy prophets," when the
new heaven and the new earth are to be inhabited.

78 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be
any more pain : for the former things are passed
away.' What if it should then please the All- Wise
and All-Gracious Creator to raise the creatures,
which we now call inferior animals, to a higher
grade in the scale of creation ? What if it should
please Him, in the great regeneration, when He
makes us ' equal to the angels,' to make them what
we are now ? Thus in that day all the vanity to
which they are now helplessly subject will be abol-
ished ; they will suffer no more, either from within
or without; the days of their groaning will be
ended. In the new earth as well as the new
heavens, there will be nothing to give pain, but
everything that the wisdom and goodness of God
can create to give happiness. As a recompense for
what they once suffered while under the ' bondage
of corruption,' when God has ' renewed the face of
the earth ' and their corruptible bodies have put on
incorruption, they shall enjoy happiness, suited to
their state, without alloy, without interruption, and
without end."

Eev. Dr. Edward B. Pusey says that " all nature,
having suffered together, shall be restored together.

OPINIONS OF GREA T A UTHORS 79

As to us, death is to be the gate of immortality and
glory, so in some way to them creation includes all
created beings, and all creation must include our
nature too, in that one common groan and pang."

The great philosopher and theologian, Bishop
Butler, says : " We cannot argue from the reason of
the thing that death is the destruction of living
agents. Neither can we find anything in the whole
analogy of nature to afford us even the slightest
presumption that animals ever lose their living
powers; much less, if it were possible, that they
lose them by death. The immortality of brutes
does not necessarily imply that they are endowed
with any latent capacities of a rational or moral
nature. The economy of the universe might re-
quire that there should be immortal creatures with-
out any capacities of this kind."

Canon Wilberforce, in an eloquent speech before
a meeting of the Anti- Vivisection Society in Lon-
don said he believed that " these beautiful and
useful forms of life, which are sometimes so cruelly
tortured, are bound to pass over into another
sphere, and that in the great eternal world men
and animals should sink or swim together."

Eev. Joseph Cook says : " Do not facts require us

80 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

to hold that the immortal part in animals having
higher than automatic endowments is external to
the nervous mechanism in them as well as in man ?
What are we to say if we find that straightforward-
ness may lead us to the conclusion that Agassiz
was not unjustifiable when he affirmed, in the name
of science, that instinct may be immortal, and
when he expressed, in his own name, the ardent
hope that it might be so. Shall we, too, not hope
that this highest conception of paradise may be the
true one ? Would it not be a diminution of su-
preme bliss not to have union with God through
these, the most majestic of His works below our-
selves ? "

Agassiz, the greatest scientist we ever have had
on this continent, and a man of profound religious
convictions, was a firm believer in some future life
for lower animals. He says : " Most of the argu-
ments of philosophy in favor of the immortality of
man apply equally to the permanency of the im-
mortal principle in other living beings. May I not
add that a future life in which man should be
deprived of that great source of enjoyment, and
intellectual and moral improvement, which result
from the contemplation of the harmonies of an

OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 8 1

organic world, would involve a lamentable loss;
and may we not look to a spiritual concert of the
combined worlds and all their inhabitants in the
presence of their Creator, as the highest conception
of paradise ? In some incomprehensible way, God
Almighty has created these beings, and I cannot
doubt of their immortality any more than I doubt
of my own."

Rev. Dr. Adam Clark, one among the greatest
theologians of his day, makes the following plain
and unmistakable statement : " It does not appear
that the animal creation are capable of a choice ;
and it is evident that they are not placed in their
present misery, through either their choice or their
sin; and if no purpose of God can be ultimately
frustrated these creatures must be restored to that
state of happiness for which they have been made,
and of which they have been deprived through the
transgression of man. Had not sin entered into
the world, they would have had much greater
enjoyments, without pain, excessive labor, and toil,
and without death, and all those sufferings which
arise from the fall. It is therefore obvious that
the gracious purpose of God has not been fulfilled
in them; and that, as they have not lost their

82 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

happiness through their own fault, both the benefi-
cence and justice of God are bound to make them a
reparation. Hence it is reasonable to conclude
that, as from the present constitution of things
they cannot have the happiness designed for them
in this state, they must have it in another."

Mrs. Mary Somerville, who was a member of the
philosophical societies and academies of science
both in England and Germany, and who was noted,
the world over, for her scientific knowledge and
womanly virtues, when speaking on the subject of
death, said : " I shall regret the sky, the sea, with
all the changes of their beautiful coloring ; the
earth, with its verdure and flowers : but far more
shall I grieve to leave animals who have followed
our steps affectionately for years, without knowing
for certain their ultimate fate, though I firmly
believe that the living principle is never ex-
tinguished. I am sincerely happy to find that
I am not the only believer in the immortality of
the lower animals."

Miss Frances Power Cobbe, of England, a noted
writer, says: "I will venture to say plainly that, so
far as appears to me, there is no possible solution
of this heart-wearing question save the bold as-

OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 83

sumption that the existence of animals does not
end at death. It is absolutely necessary to postu-
late a future life for the tortured dog or cat or
horse or monkey, if we would escape the un-
bearable conclusion that a sentient creature, un-
offending, nay, incapable of giving offense, has
been given by the Creator an existence which, on
the whole, has been a curse. That conclusion
would be blasphemy. Rejecting it with all the
energy of our souls, we find ourselves logically
driven to assume the future life of lower animals."
Rev. J. G. Wood, author of " Man and Beast,"
says: "I feel sure that animals will have the op-
portunity of developing their latent faculties in the
next world, though their free scope has been denied
to them in the short time of their existence in the
present world. They surpass many human beings
in love, unselfishness, generosity, conscience, and
self-sacrifice. I claim for them a higher status in
creation than is generally attributed to them, and
claim they have a future life in which they can be
compensated for the suffering which so many of
them have to undergo in this world. I am quite sure
that most of the cruelties which are perpetrated on
animals are due to the habit of considering them as

84 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

mere machines, without susceptibilities, without
reason, and without the capacity of a future."

George T. Angell, President of the American Hu-
mane Education Society, and a noted humanitarian,
says, " Can there be any doubt that the Almighty,
who has given them (animals) one life, has power, if
He wishes, to give them another? In God's great
universe, comprising as it does perhaps millions of
worlds larger than our own, is there not room
enough for all ? "

Rev. Canon I. T. Carter, a noted English clergy-
man, says : " We may, moreover, connect with the
resurrection of our Lord, the hope for restoration
of the entire creation ; for the whole world looks
forward to that future state. As the whole world
of creation around us suffers from the effect of the
fall, so in some way they will know a resurrection,
and be transformed into a pure, more blessed, more
beautiful, state. The lowest creatures are not to be
destroyed, but after their manner, according to
their kind, will be restored, giving praise and glory
to ' Him who created them.' "

Rev. Robert Eyton makes the following beautiful
remarks : " To some of us it would be a great sor-
row to think that after this life we are forever

OPINIONS OF GREAT AUTHORS 85

entirely and hopelessly separated from that animal
world in which many of the deepest of our inter-
ests are to be found. It would seem strange to us
to think that man should have this world as his
home, and should form those wonderful and beauti-
ful relations with many of the animals below him
that he now does, and then afterwards, in the new
earth, these relations should cease, and that God is
then to be looked on henceforth as the God of hu-
man beings only, and not of the animal creation.
But when we think of animals as being objects of
God's creative love, it at once puts us in a new rela-
tion towards them and gives us a new hope about
their future."

Kev. H. Kirby, of England, says : " "We are led
to conclude that the suffering, violence, and death
which animals have to endure, either at the hand
of man or of other animals, did not exist until
after the fall of man, and that therefore they are
one of the consequences of sin. In other words,
the lower animals, who themselves are not guilty
of any sin, are nevertheless, undergoing a share of
the punishment due to man's sin.

" This would lead us to suppose, from what we
know of God's goodness, justice, and equity, that if

86 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

guilty men are to enjoy the benefits of Christ's In-
carnation and Atonement, and are to receive much
more than an equivalent for their miseries and suf-
fering, then innocent animals may in all reason
look for some recompense for all the ills which
they now endure : and since there seems to be but
little alleviation of their troubles in the present life,
we infer that it may take place in a future and im-
mortal life, of which they are capable from their
twofold nature of body and soul."

Dr. John Fulton, of New York, a clergyman
of deep piety and bright intellect, recently made
the following statement : " This is a redeemed
world, with not one suffering creature that has
been left out of Christ's all-embracing redemption.
And more, I dare believe that St. Paul was right
when he looked upon this redeemed world, and see-
ing how its lower orders are groaning and suffering
together with us, even until now, he was inspired
to prophesy of a better time, when their redemp-
tion and ours shall be perfected together, and the
glory that is to be revealed shall surpass all the
present suffering. My own belief is that, in some
way, which I do not pretend to understand, but in
which I can nevertheless believe, the salvation of

OPINIONS OF GREA T A UTHORS 87

Christ is broad enough to include and does include
the dumb creation."

But one could continue to mention hundreds of
noted divines, authors, and scientists, of modern
times, as well as ancient writers, who have ex-
pressed themselves as believing in the immortality
of animals. The doctrine was maintained by a
large majority of ancient philosophers, though like
the immortality of man, it was of a very uncertain
and crude nature.

The old school of Platonists claimed that the
souls of all living creatures were a part of the uni-
versal soul of the world, and that they were de-
pressed or immerged in the animal body, and when
the body died the soul would go to some other liv-
ing being, sometimes to a man and sometimes to a
lower animal.

This doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
crude as it was, shows a noble and humane device
of the ancients to deter men from indulging in sor-
did and mean passions. To teach that the souls of
men after their separation from the body should
pass into the form of such animals as they most re-
sembled in their dispositions, then to endure the
horrors and suffering which they were guilty of

88 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

inflicting, was a wholesome doctrine in those dark
days.

If the souls of some of our two-legged animals
who have wantonly abused and tortured so many
of the quadrupeds should be transmigrated into
their forms long enough to realize the regions
of hell they have made for them on earth, the
angels of mercy would undoubtedly shout, amen !

Menander, a Greek writer, speaking on the sub-
ject of transmigration, said to Crato, " When you
die you will have a second existence ; therefore
choose what creature you would like to be, dog,
sheep, goat, horse, or man." To which he replied,
" Make me anything rather than a man, for he
is the only creature that prospers by injustice."
Though this was spoken many hundred years ago,
yet it is a lamentable fact that it has lost none of
its truth.

The doctrine of the immortality of animals was
maintained by many Jewish writers and a long
list of ancient Christian writers could be men-
tioned.

Manasseh, a noted Jewish Rabbi, in his discourse
on the resurrection, asserts that "dumb animals
will have a much happier state than they ever

OPINIONS OF GREA T A UTHORS 89

enjoyed here when they with man shall rise
again."

And Philo, in his book of future rewards, speaks
as follows : " There is no doubt but that hereafter
dumb animals will be divested of their ferocity,
and become tame and gentle after the manner of
other creatures whose dispositions are subdued
to harmony and love."

Tertullian, a noted Christian writer, makes the
following remarks : " There shall be an end of
death, when the devil, its chief master, shall go
away into the fire which God has prepared for
him and his angels ; when the manifestations of
the sons of God shall release the world from evil,
at present universally subject to it ; when the
innocence and purity of nature being restored,
animals shall live in harmony with each other, and
infants shall play without harm with animals once
ferocious ; when the Father shall have subdued
His enemies to His Son and put all things in
subjection under His feet."

CHAPTER VI

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE — COMMANDED
TO PRAISE THEIR CREATOR

Animals to be restored to primeval peace and happiness — Are
seen in heaven — Two passages of Scripture usually not properly
interpreted.

In the promise of a new heaven and a new earth
God has given a plain revelation to man of the
restoration of all animals. In this new Garden
of Eden all things are to be restored to their
former harmony ; there will be perpetual peace
and happiness, and all shall dwell together in love.
The animal creation shall again gladden a new
Paradise as they did when Adam and Eve called
them by name, and caressed them and mingled
in their society.

The Bible everywhere indicates that the new
earth will be a counterpart of the old before the
fall, so we must conclude that lower animals, who
were created before man and have been his com-
panions before and since the fall, will be restored
with him in the "new creation." The inspired

90

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 9 1

writer Isaiah, looking beyond the present suffering
and disorganized condition of animals, declares that
the time will come when "the wolf shall dwell
with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with
the kid ; the calf and the young lion and the
fatlino- together; and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed ; their young
ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall
play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain ;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

This description of the inspired writer fully
portrays the condition which existed in the Garden
of Eden before the fall, and shows conclusively that
the same relation will again exist among the
animals, and that God has created or prepared
a new world for them ; or, as St. Paul says : " In
the dispensation of the fulness of time Christ might
o-ather together in one all things in Him, both
which are in the heavens and which are on the
earth ; even in Him."

St. Peter says, " And God shall send Jesus

92 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom
the heaven must receive until the times of restitu-
tion of all things. For according to His promise,
we look for new heavens and a new earth."

Now if all things are to be restored, animals are
to be restored ; and if this whole material system is
to be renewed, does not this include the material
forms of all living creatures ?

"When lower animals were made to suffer for
man's sin at the time of the flood, God made a
promise to them as well as to man that such a
thing should never occur again, in these words: " I
will remember My covenant, which is between Me
and you and every living creature of all flesh ; and
the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh." Why should God include in His cove-
nant lower animals if they were not immortal as
well as man, and were not to share alike a future
destiny ?

Had not Satan interfered to mar the harmony
between man and animals in the original Paradise,
they would still be living in the bonds of a holy
and happy fellowship without sin or suffering.

To doubt that God will restore this happy fellow-
ship would be to deny that it ever did exist and

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 93

to deny the plain teachings of the Bible and all the
good and great attributes of our Heavenly Father.

Isaiah, in speaking of the " restitution of all
things," says : " In that day shall the cattle feed
in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the
young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean
provender, which hath been winnowed with the
shovel and with the fan." Then again, if there
was to be no future state for lower animals, why
does God call on them to praise Him ? If the
Creator made them " very good," without being
capable of sin, and through man's disobedience
they have to suffer with him the curse of the fall,
it would seem like mockery to call upon them to
praise Him if they are to be doomed to an eternal
annihilation.

God says in His revealed word, " Let the heavens
and earth praise Him. . . . Beasts, and all
cattle ; creeping things and flying fowls. . . .
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord."

St. John the Divine, who represents himself as
speaking through "The Eevelation of Jesus
Christ," gives us to understand that there are
lower animals as well as man in heaven, and that
they all give praise unto the Lord. He says he

94 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

saw four beasts together with twenty-four elders
who were near the throne of God, and that these
" beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to Him
that sat on the throne." And further on he relates
that he saw in heaven, horses, sheep, leopards, lions,
frogs, fowls, birds, and insects ; that the beasts
consisted of tens of thousands ; and that " every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea and all
that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and
honor and glory and power be unto Him that
sitteth upon the throne. . . . Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for
Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure
they are and were created." If lower animals " are
and were " created for His pleasure, it must be in
the future state, for it certainly could not be in ac-
cordance with the nature of the Creator, to take
pleasure in the terrible suffering they have to en-
dure in this world.

It is very obvious that when " God saw every-
thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very
good," He was looking through and beyond the
intermediate state to the ultimate purpose of cre-
ation. There is no other way to solve this sad,

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 95

perplexing question, and no other reason why God
would call on lower animals to praise Him. When
we hear Christian people sing that beautiful verse
composed by Bishop Thomas Ken :

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow ;
Praise Him all creatures here below,"

we wonder if they really comprehend its true im-
port. No doubt the great and good bishop was sin-
cere when he composed that grand doxology which
will be sung as long as the Christian Church is per-
petuated upon earth ; but no man has a moral right
to ask poor, sinless, suffering animals to praise God
unless he feels assured that they will receive a
future recompense for the sad condition man has
brought upon them.

" He prayeth well, who loveth well,
Both man, and bird, and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small ;
For the great God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

While the Bible as clearly conveys the idea that
lower animals are in heaven as it does that men
are in heaven, yet I do not urge this fact as

96 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

an argument for the immortality of animals, for
God may see fit to give them a separate " country "
as He did before the creation of man.

It might be well in this connection to notice
briefly the doctrine taught by religions other than
Christianity.

The evidence is positive that a belief in an end-
less existence of lower animals, as well as man, has
been maintained throughout the history of man
from the creation to the present time. Thousands of
years before the Christian era, the Egyptians show
evidence of being a highly cultured people in
morals, art, literature, and the sciences. They
could build temples, erect massive obelisks, and
showed evidence of wonderful attainments in
mathematics, engineering, and astronomy. They
were, at an early age, more advanced than either
the Greeks or the Romans.

In the British Museum are sculptured figures in
hieroglyphic writing, which can be easily read, that
date back as far as 3500 b. c.

In their religious symbolism they show that they
were firm believers in the immortality of animals.
The large number of animal mummies which are
found beside human beings go to show that they

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 97

placed man and lower animals on an equality so
far as future destiny was concerned.

Many animals have special significance in the re-
ligious teachings of the Egyptians. The sacred bull,
called Apis, was kept in Memphis and treated with
ofreat reverence. When one died he was embalmed
and buried in a granite sarcophagus in the neighbor-
hood of the Pyramids with a suitable inscription
carved on a stone. On one, which is a sample of
many, are found the following words: "In the
twentieth year, the month Mesori, the twentieth
day, under the reign of King Psamethik I,
the Majesty of the living Apis departed to
heaven."

The Mahometans advocate the doctrine that
there is a Paradise, or " Garden of Abode," beneath
the seventh heaven and near the throne of God, which
is the future abode of the righteous, and that there
" there shall be beasts to ride on, ready saddled and
bridled and adorned with rich trappings, which will
gallop at great speed. Birds shall sing from the
branches of the great tuba (tree of happiness)."

Every nation which has attained to any degree
of culture has had some sort of religion ; and in
almost every instance where man has been con-

98 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

sidered immortal, lower animals have been so con-
sidered for the same reasons.

The religions of Egypt and Phoenicia, Islamism,
Brahmanism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Greek
and Norse religions, Lao-tseism and Confucianism,
Judaism from which descended Christianity, and in
America the religions of the Peruvians and the
Aztecs, — indeed all the primitive religions of the
world, directly or indirectly advocate the immor-
tality of lower animals. In many religions of a
more crude form, such as we find among the In-
dians, they too believe that wherever the departed
soul of man goes, his faithful horse, dog, wife, and
attendants follow.

As heaven is a real place or a world made into a
paradise for the abode of man, so the Creator has
provided somewhere in His numerous systems of
worlds a place for all animals, as I show further
on.

This is certainly a consistent conclusion from our
knowledge of Divine goodness and justice. In-
stead of limiting the power and goodness of God, I
would extend it, not only to the material things we
see, but into the vastness of the mysterious im-
mensity of space beyond our view or present com-

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 99

prehension, into myriads of worlds He has in reserve
for His purposes.

Instead of circumscribing the Christian religion
to one species of God's creatures, I would let its
wings of mercy spread out over all suffering
animal life. It is a narrow conclusion to suppose
that man is the only animal the Creator has pro-
vided for or cares for. The place man holds in
comparison with the universe is humble beyond all
statement of degree.

There are angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim,
and various other spirits in the celestial hierarchy
which are as far above man as the heavens are
above the earth. How unreasonable to believe
that the Creator, who made the lower animals and
endowed them with a high sense of enjoyment,
turned them out into the wide theatre of the uni-
verse, there to struggle as best they could, and to
endure all the suffering and torture their sensitive,
quivering nerves could bear ; and then doomed them
to an eternal annihilation. Would such a partial
destiny be consistent with the attributes of a
Christian's God ? We look at the low and de-
graded state of the Hindoos, the Hottentots, the
Bushmen, and ask the question, " How is it possible

IOO THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

that these can live again?" We look into the
bright liquid eyes of an intelligent lower animal
and ask the same question. The following question
was asked over nineteen hundred years ago, and is
still being asked : " Why should it be thought a
thing incredible with you that God should raise the
dead ? " and the answer comes from the same volume
of revelation : " For as in Adam all die even so in
Christ shall all be made alive . . . the tender
mercy of God is over all His works ... in
whose hand is the soul of every living thing."

When the world recognizes the solemn truth that
all God's creatures are descendants from the same
First Cause ; that thev need the same elements for
the support of their bodies ; that all are members
of the same great community and family ; that all
are fellow-travelers in the same weary pilgrimage ;
that all are subject to the same sin, sorrow, pain, and
death, as the result of the fall ; that all have the
same desire for happiness and tenacity for life ; and
that all possess the same kind of immortality, — then
we will have a nucleus around which to gather the
grand facts of a humane system of theology.

The passages of Scripture used as arguments
against the future existence of lower animals are

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE IOI

commonly limited to two, but these when rightly
interpreted fail to form a conclusive argument
against the immortality of animals.

Solomon, in one of his despondent moods, iron-
ically asks the question, " Who knoweth the spirit
of a man that goeth upward, and the spirit of a
beast that goeth downward to the earth ? " This
is as much as to say that such a doctrine might be
taught, but who knows it, or would dare advocate
it? We can, with like propriety, propound the
same question to-day : who knows it ? And the
answer should be, no one. Solomon did not say he
knew it or that he believed it.

Theologians insist that a passage of Scripture
must be interpreted by the preceding and following
passages and by the context of the whole idea in-
tended. By reading the two passages preceding
the one quoted, it can be proven conclusively that
the question was ironically asked and that Solomon
believed that animals shared alike the same future
condition as man. If immortality is the lot of one,
it is of all ; as they are composed of like dust and
have the same breath. Solomon says : " That
which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts ;
as the one dieth, so dieth the other ; yea, they have

102 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

all one breath ; so that a man hath no preeminence
above a beast. All go to one place."

Again, if the objector will notice the important
fact that Solomon here fully recognizes that animals
have " spirits " or souls the same as man, we pre-
sume he will not consider the quotation so valuable
against the immortality of animals.

The other passage urged as an objection against
a continuance of the being of lower animals is as
futile as the one just noticed. David, in speaking
of the rich and wicked man, says : " Nevertheless
man being in honor abideth not; he is like the
beasts that perish."

In justice to the cause of suffering animals, let us
say that this text also is wrongly translated. It is
another instance of the persistent efforts of transla-
tors to exclude the lower animals from the benefits
of the correct words of revelation.

There is no word in the original Hebrew, in the
passage referred to, which can be properly trans-
lated " perish." The true translation should be,
" like dumb beasts " or " like irrational beasts."
The word " perish " does not occur in the original
Hebrew and should not be added. The Jewish
Bible, which retains the purest Hebrew, uses

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 103

the words " like the beasts that are irra-
tional."

The words in the Septuagint were translated
"senseless cattle" and in the Wycliffe Bible, were
translated " unwise beasts." One of the accepted
translations of the Roman Catholic Church of
England uses the words '; senseless beasts." The
word " perish " should not be used. But we will
take the English translation as it reads and show
that the doctrine of the annihilation of lower ani-
mals was not here intended and that the passage
says nothing more about the perishing of beasts
than other passages do of man. When we read the
context it is plain that it has but one meaning ;
namely, that the rich and wicked man may perish
or die and his name be forgotten like a beast which
dies and is forgotten. We are aware that lower
animals die and perish from our memory, that is,
are forgotten, and man is very properly compared
to them. Whilst he lives he may be honored for
his wealth, notwithstanding he may be mean and
insignificant ; but when he dies his honor dies with
him, and, like a poor, obscure, nameless animal,
sinks into oblivion so far as this world is concerned.
But the word " perish " does not in any sense mean

104 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

annihilation, for if it did there would be no future
for any but the righteous, which is not in accord-
ance with the teaching of the Bible.

Christ says, " All shall come forth, they that
have done good and they that have done evil ; "
and Paul says, " We must all appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ."

The word " perish " in the passage referred to is
applied to both man and beast alike, and if it means
annihilation to one it does to the other.

But it is perfectly plain that it has reference to
the memory of man after death and not to his
future life. Though a man may have riches and
honor yet his name may not abide after death, for
he may be forgotten and his name perish like the
memory of the beast. Such passages of Scripture
are often read without giving them a careful con-
sideration.

In the last verse of the same chapter is a repeti
tion of the same idea with the additional words
" understandeth not," which clinches the argument
that the comparison of man and lower animals was
with reference to the memory of them after death.

If the words should be so interpreted as to mean
the annihilation of animals, there are scores of

ANIMALS PROMISED A PARADISE 105

passages which would annihilate man by the same
argument. I will quote a few from the many.
Isaiah says, " Therefore hast thou visited and de-
stroyed them, and made all their memory to perish."
Job says, " They are destroyed from morning to
evening ; they perish forever." In Ecclesiastes we
find the following passage : " For the living know
that they shall die, but the dead know not any-
thing, neither have they any more a reward, for the
memory of them is forgotten. All go unto one
place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust
again."

David tells us that " the dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence. . . .
He seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and
the brutish person perish." St. Peter, in speaking
of the wicked, says, " They shall be cut down like
grass and wither as the green herb."

When Christ and His disciples were out in a ship,
a severe storm arose, and the disciples went to
Christ and said, " Lord save us : we perish." St.
Peter, in speaking of the wicked, says, " They un-
derstand not, and shall utterly perish in their own
corruption." All such passages refer to the sus-
pension of the corporal powers and not to the

106 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

spiritual nature of man and lower animals, and cer-
tainly Solomon could have had no other idea in
view. There is no passage in the Bible so often
and so erroneously quoted.

CHAPTER VII

NATURAL THEOLOGY — PHILOSOPHY OF THE SOUL

The lower animals have souls for the same reason that mankind
have souls — Scientific reasons for believing in the immortality of
animals — Materialism and immaterialism.

While the Bible fully declares the immortality
of animals, natural theolog}7 just as fully substan-
tiates the same fact. One thing, however, is certain :
if the immortality of animals cannot be demon-
strated, the contrary cannot. To say that when a
house has fallen and is in ruins, it once had an in-
habitant, and that he escaped out of it and lives in
some other place, can involve no contradiction; but
to say that the soul of an animal, when it leaves the
body, has found a new and better place, may involve
a question. There are some things readily ad-
mitted, without an argument, while other things
cannot be impressed upon the mind without being
analyzed and presented in a logical form.

I attempt to prove by plain and simple proposi-
tions that if men have souls lower animals have

107

108 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

souls for the same reasons, and that the soul is not
only immaterial but that it is immortal, and is a
thing separate from the body. Every species of
being and every immaterial substance must belong
to some region or state, because it must be some-
where and somehow. There is no waste in crea-
tion, and everything, however grand or insignificant,
was made for some worthy object. It is true such
objects may be perverted by the interference of
man, but the ultimate good intended will be
reached. Nature teaches us to draw conclusions
from what we see and know as to the character of
things we do not see nor positively know.

Matter is a thing we can see, and we can there-
fore know something of its properties. We know
that by itself it is of a lifeless, inert, and passive na-
ture. But the soul has a freedom to act independ-
ently of the laws which govern matter. Mind may
be considered as manifesting itself through a series
of material organs, although it is totally unlike any
of those principles or functions that are termed ma-
terial, and in fundamental contrast to them. When
a man communicates his ideas to an animal it must
be through a spiritual medium, for matter or ma-
terial substance cannot communicate with the soul or

NATURAL THEOLOGY 109

immaterial essence; consequently animals must have
an immaterial nature or soul the same as man.

This is illustrated in the communication between
Balaam and his ass. Balaam mounted his ass and
started to fight the Israelites, against God's com-
mand, but an angel was sent to warn him to go no
farther lest he would be slain. The angel appeared
standing in the road with uplifted sword, and was
seen by the ass before Balaam's eyes were opened.
The ass turned aside which so enraged Balaam that
he commenced to beat her with his staff. He did
not try to find the cause for the ass's fright. " And
the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said
unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou
hast smitten me these three times ? And Balaam
said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me ; I
would there were a sword in my hand, for now
would I kill thee." The poor ass tried to explain
her fright and said, "Am not I thine ass upon
which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto
this day ; was I ever wont to do so unto thee ? "

While this conversation was going on, Balaam
looked up and saw the angel standing in the road,
and now it was his turn to apologize to the ass for
his hasty cruelty.

HO THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

The moving agent in this case operated through
an immaterial medium upon the donkey as well as
upon the man.

Elijah, the prophet, was a good man, and, for re-
proving the sins of King Ahab, his life was in dan-
ger ; so the Lord said to him, " Hide thyself by the
brook Cherith. I have commanded the ravens to
feed thee there." How could it be possible for the
ravens to understand this command unless they had
souls or an immaterial nature to communicate with
a like nature ?

Jonah was thrown overboard from a ship by his
enemies, but the Lord had in readiness a great fish
which was commanded to swallow him, and in three
days " the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited
out Jonah upon dry land."

Daniel was cast into the den of lions by King
Darius for worshiping the Lord, and he said, " God
sent an angel and shut the lions' mouths that they
have not hurt me." An angel told the lions not to
harm Daniel and they obeyed his command.

Nothing but an immaterial principle within could
hear and obey the direct command of an immaterial
nature like God or His angels.

If the material organism of animals comes from

NATURAL THEOLOGY III

matter, then it must be obvious that the mental and
vital organism which pervades every living being
must come from the immaterial attributes of the
Creator, and is eternal. It is claimed by the Church
that man is immortal because he can communicate
with God. We take the same Bible and prove that
God communicated with lower animals, which would
indicate a divine nature in them for the same reason.
If an animal moves itself, it does so for some rea-
son and with respect to some end, which is not like
material motion which cannot take place only from
without by external causes. You cannot imagine
matter moved by its own reason. Animals move
themselves not only by their own reason, but by
reason imparted by signs or words from others.
Such motions cannot be the result of the mere
physical effects of signs or words, for they would
have the same effect whether they were understood
or not. It is the soul which interprets the sense of
the signs and words and thus causes action, and it
is the soul which imparts the principles of life
and brings vitality to the body. As long as the
soul remains in the body it has the power to move
it at will, or otherwise it would be moved by only
the laws of gravitation and mechanism.

112 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

The immaterial essence of force is the propelling
power of the soul. Animal life is maintained by the
Divine will manifested through the law of force,
consequently no living being without the aid of
some vital force superior to chemical and mechan-
ical forces can live. Vital force constitutes the phe-
nomena of life, and is entirely distinct from lifeless
matter which is devoid of any motion or force ex-
cept as applied to it from external causes.

Scientists agree that force is an immaterial es-
sence, and forms a substantial entity which is in-
destructible. Now everything which is immaterial
forms an attribute of God and must be immortal.
Force is an immaterial principle and consequently
vital-force, mental-force and all other faculties of
the soul must be immortal.

It requires force to produce motion, and life is
motion, both of which cannot be annihilated, but
only changed.

We have, to-day, two classes of scientists who
differ widely on biological and psychological science.
One class attempts to account for everything that
takes place in the body on chemical or mechanical
principles, and thus denies the existence of external
or soul energy. It assumes that there is but one

NATURAL THEOLOGY 1 13

substance, and regards mind as but a property or
particular manifestation of matter. The other class
contends that behind the pressure which produces
the motions and sensations of animals is a spiritual
nature called soul ; and that the material and the
mental nature may be regarded from a dualistic
point of view as a perfectly distinct kind of
reality.

The greater number of modern scientists adopt
the latter scientiiic hypothesis, and contend that the
soul is external to the nervous mechanism which it
sets in motion, and that there is an external agent
in all animal life independent of the body. It is an
easy matter, when considering the two schools of
philosophy, to see where modern materialism and
theology separate. I have for many years been in-
vestigating both sides of the question and am thor-
oughly convinced that life, or the power which gives
motion and sensation, must come from without, and
is independent of the nervous mechanism ; and from
this life potency proceeds organization, for there
cannot be life without organization to receive it.

The cause of vital movement must exist before
the movement. Nothing can exist in an effect
which did not previously exist in the cause.

114 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Therefore if life existed before organization, it could
certainly exist outside and after dissolution.

When the soul is disengaged from the gross
matter, which now incloses and encumbers it, may
it not become veiled in its own fine vehicle and,
being freed from the laws governing the body,
assume the laws which govern the immaterial
universe and be conveyed to some prepared state
or place of future abode ?

It is a sad fact that there are many mysteries
which cluster around this abstruse subject and
remain locked in the bosom of the Creator, and are
as inscrutable to the sage as to the savage ; to the
philosopher as to the schoolboy. No doubt they
are hidden for a purpose, and what little we can
know of this great cosmos should convince us of
man's ignorance and weakness when compared
with the great First Cause of all things.

A chemist may decompose blood, gelatine, bone
or any constituent part of the body, but he cannot
reform one of them. The vital laws, or organic
forces, form compounds which can never be pro-
duced by chemical amnit}^. He can no more make
a piece of bone than he can make a diamond. It
requires a higher intelligence than that of a finite

NATURAL THEOLOGY 115

or earthly nature to form the body, and it requires
a higher power than matter to operate it when it is
formed. How a molecule or protoplasm which
forms the germinal matter can produce a bone,
tendon, muscle, nerve, or any constituent element
of animal life, and change dead matter into a living
body, can only be accounted for by recognizing the
wisdom and power of the Creator of all things in
the initial movement.

According to the teachings of modern philosophy,
matter and mind form the only constituent ele-
ments of the universe, and as mind is synonymous
with soul it would be proper to say that matter
and soul are the only constituents of the universe ;
though there seems to be considerable confusion
about the different terms used to express the
immaterial part of the body.

A true definition of the nature of the soul is that
it consists of a certain simple unextended, indivisi-
ble substance, the natural properties whereof are
life, understanding, and activity. It is a thing
which differs essentially from all material sub-
stances ; for matter is something, under all forms,
which is naturally compounded, extended and
divisible; has color, length, breadth, thickness; is

Il6 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

hard or soft, rough or smooth, and without under-
standing and power of motion.

A soul is of contrary nature, and must be uncom-
pounded, unextended, indivisible and whose proper-
ties are life, understanding, and activity.

It is that mysterious essence which thinks, moves,
and controls the body. Now according to this
definition of the essential properties of the soul, it
would appear that it is a God-given principle to all
living beings, and includes a capacity for im-
mortality and endless duration of existence. As
life is the natural property of the soul, and this life
property is an attribute of God, we cannot but con-
ceive it as immortal. No supposition can be
formed of the destruction of this principle of life,
but involves the destruction of this soul nature
and essence ; because the endless duration of
the soul is asserted in its unity, and indivisibility,
and because, since having no parts, it cannot be
divided into parts, and as a substance uncom-
pounded, it is not liable to dissolution, therefore
the soul, truly is a living substance, which cannot
perish with the body.

Now, since all beings which have life have souls,
and as life is soul, and all souls are immortal and

NATURAL THEOLOGY 117

capable of existence forever, nothing therefore can
possibly preclude the souls of animals from that
perpetual state to come but a fundamental destruc-
tion, for they must continue through all revolutions
of future ages, unless the Creator who made them
shall see fit to doom them to annihilation.

That the soul is endowed with a capacity for a
state of separate existence after the death of
the corporal frame to which it is attached is a
conclusion clearly deduced from both revealed and
natural theology.

The brain, being the centre of the nervous system,
is the seat of the soul and is the instrument which
is employed in all its operations. Though the soul
is not matter, yet it works through the means
of matter. We say that the eye sees, but the
eye cannot see, it is the mere instrument of vision,
and is no more to a man than a telescope or micro-
scope. The ear is not hearing, but the organ of hear-
ing ; so the brain is not soul, but the organ of the
soul by which it works through its different faculties.

To illustrate, I say to a boy, " John, please go and
drive the chickens from the garden." He obeys me
and then returns feeling proud of having done me
a favor. The chickens soon return, so I call my

Il8 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

dog and say, "Carlo, go and drive the chickens
from the garden." He, also, cheerfully obeys my
command, and then returns looking wistfully into
my face, as much as to say, " I am glad to obey you
and make myself useful." They both suddenly die
and lie before me. I look into their faces and see
the eyes that guided their bodies ; the ears which
heard my voice ; the limbs which propelled their
bodies, and the head which contained the brain
over which the soul presided. The organs are all
there as they were but without life. Now what is
life ? It is that period during wiiich the body and
soul are united. They are not now united ; the
souls which were behind the nerve systems which
caused them to perform those acts have left their
bodies. Now what system of logic will sustain the
hypothesis that you can call the brain energy in
the boy one thing and in the dog another ? If that
mysterious substance called soul was the cause of
action in the one case it was in the other. What
has become of that substance which gave motion
and sensation to those bodies ?

If the mental powers and vital essence of that
faithful, intelligent, and confiding dog, with its
memory and loving devotion can be annihilated or

NATURAL THEOLOGY 119

sink into nonentity at death, what philosophical
proof or probable evidence can be adduced to show
that the boy shall live after the death of the body ?
There has been no change in the constituent parts
of man and animals since the creation, and what we
find now is the same that the Creator first gave to
each.

Scientists who advocate the theory of organic
evolution admit that all the germs of all the moral
and mental faculties of man are contained in the
lower animals, and that the vital force, the Bible
term for which is soul, is as much a part of lower
animals as of man.

Huxley says : " I hold that the nature of the
physical and mental faculties of brutes applies in
its fulness and entirety to man. The conscious-
ness possessed by lower animals is that sort of con-
sciousness which we have ourselves, and fore-
shadows more or less those feelings which are
possessed by mankind."

Darwin says : " The sense, intuitions and various
emotions and faculties of which man boasts, may
be found in an incipient or even sometimes in a
well-developed condition in the lower animals."

Biichner says : " The standpoint of modern

120 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

thought no longer recognizes man and lower
animals a difference of kind, but only a difference
of degree, and sees the principle of intelligence de-
veloping throughout an endless and unbroken
series."

Man can never find his true place in the universe
until he recognizes that lower animals are fellow-
creatures and, though created inferior in intellect,
yet possess all the germs of the intellectual faculties
of man. It is somewhat amusing and yet sad to
observe the different opinions of scientists on the
subject of biology and psychology. The material-
ist, who traces the origin of sensation and thought
from a mere modification of common matter, refers
the perceptions and reflections of lower animals to
the same principle which produces them in man.

The immaterialist, on the contrary, who con-
ceives that mere matter is incapable, under any
modification, of producing sensation and thought,
is under the necessity of supplying to every rank
of being possessing these powers, the existence of
another and of a very different substance combined
with it ; a substance not subject to the changes and
infirmities of matter, and altogether impalpable
and incorruptible. Now if sensation and thought

NATURAL THEOLOGY 121

can result only from such a substance in man, they
can result only from such a substance in lower ani-
mals.

The only difficulty arising with the immaterialist,
who is influenced by the wrong interpretation of
theology, is to know how to dispose of the animal
soul on the dissolution of the body. He cannot
conceive of the annihilation of an incorruptible, im-
material substance like thought and sensation, ac-
cording to his own theory, and should admit that,
as the faculty of intelligence is discernible in lower
animals as well as in man, if this principle is im-
mortal in the one it must be in the other, which is
the only proper solution of the question.

CHAPTER VIII

PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY — THE
BODY GOVERNED BY IMMATERIAL FORCES

The soul cannot be injured or diseased any more than can
electricity, gravity or affinity — It is only the means of communica-
tion which can be affected.

It may be of interest, in this connection, to ex-
amine some of the most important parts of the
bodily structure. Physiology, when properly ap-
plied, will assist natural theology to demonstrate
that men have souls, and in doing so, it equally
proves in every instance that all animals are gov-
erned by the same physical and mental laws ; and if
it can be demonstrated that one animal has a soul,
it is conclusive evidence that all have souls.

The nervous system includes the brain, cranial
nerves, spinal cord, spinal nerves, and the sympa-
thetic nerve ; but the whole system may, for con-
venience, be placed under two general departments,
the first consisting of the brain and its dependen-
cies, and the second of the ganglia and their
nervous connections. The first pertains to ani-

122

PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY 1 23

mal life, conveying impressions calculated to pro-
duce sensations, and sending out volitions to its
servants, the organs destined to receive them.
The second applies to these organs not necessarily
under the influence of the will, such as digestion,
circulation, respiration, and secretion. Although
each nerve is endowed with its own function, yet
all the nerves are so bound together that if one
suffers all will suffer in some degree.

Those nerves which produce impressions on the
brain are called sensory nerves, and no sensation
can be excited in any part or organ unless conveyed
to the brain, the seat of the soul. For example,
the sense of touch resides in the ends of the fingers,
and the sense of sight in the eye, yet if the nerve
which connects these parts with the brain be di-
vided, no impression is felt, no sensation excited by
the organ.

The nerves which convey the orders of the soul
to the different organs are called motor nerves.
If by the act of the will power the soul sends a por-
tion of nervous influence to a muscle, it immediately
contracts, and those parts to which the muscle is
attached will move as directed. If a man or an
ape wishes to bend the arm, he will transmit

124 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

through the nerves with which it is supplied, a voli-
tion, or act of the soul, to that effect, and the arm
will then bend.

Though the muscles are the instruments of mo-
tion, yet such acts are performed through the influ-
ence of the soul. If the nerves which supply any
voluntary muscles be divided, the muscles will not
contract.

In partial paralysis, in many forms of tetanus,
such as lock-jaw and cramps, the muscles are not
under control of the soul, yet it is in no way
affected by the lesion.

It has been demonstrated by distinguished phys-
iologists that in one instance or another every part
of the brain has been destroyed or disorganized by
disease or accident, and yet the individuals have
none of them been destitute of the soul and its fac-
ulties as long as life continued. The soul cannot
be injured or diseased any more than can electricity,
gravity, or affinity. It is only the means of com-
munication that can be affected.

If the brain, in which some are pleased to lodge
all mental phenomena, has been in one instance or
another destroyed in all its parts without destroy-
ing the action of the soul, it is proof positive that

PH YSIOL OGY AND NA TURA L THEOLOG Y 12$

something more than brain matter constitutes ani-
mal life. Some animals will continue to live for
months after the brain has been destroyed or re-
moved.

It is plainly demonstrated that something which
resides in the vital organs governs the body and
moves the parts, like a telegraphic system, being
under the control of an operator. This life potency
feels what is done to it, sees through the eyes,
hears through the ears, and is conscious of its own
existence. Although the agency of the brain is
necessary to the working of the intellectual powers,
we are not to conclude that this organ can feel,
think, and will of itself; for it is not within the
range of possibility to conceive how a material sub-
stance can exhibit properties like those of the mind
or soul.

There is another fact in this connection which is
generally overlooked, and that is, that the soul which
presides over the body does not assume the part of
a physician, but controls the entire body, as is best,
under both normal and abnormal conditions. The
soul acts in the same manner towards the body as
the providence of God which permits suffering and
death as the result of the fall of man.

126 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

A parent will exhibit the most tender care and
sympathy over his offspring, but cannot relieve suf-
fering nor prevent death. Our Heavenly Father,
though He loves all His creatures, and gives them
grace to bear their pain, does not agree to change
the sentence of suffering and death which is the
result of man's disobedience.

The soul, though it presides over and controls the
body, is yet powerless to change God's laws. If
a person should take some material substance, say a
large dose of opium, into the body, the brain, from
its intimacy with the body, would become affected.
If a person should take something immaterial into
the body, such as love, fear, or grief, the brain
would also be affected. Now, if the material stimu-
lus of opium required a material medium through
which to act, the immaterial stimulus of love, fear,
or grief, must require an immaterial agency, or soul,
through which to act. I think this hypothesis is
irrefutable, that if a physical stimulus requires a
physical agent, as materialists claim, an immaterial
stimulus requires an immaterial agent through which
the body is acted upon.

Though the brain is the seat of sensation, yet
a sensation is referred from an organ to the brain,

PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY 1 27

and from the brain back again to the organ. Pain
is, therefore, not felt in any organ, but in the brain,
the seat of the soul. If anaesthesia is produced by
chloroform, properly administered, as long as the
body is under its influence there can be no pain, for
the functions of the brain are suspended, but the
soul still presides over the body, though its com-
munications are disconnected. The operator is still
at headquarters, though the wires are disconnected
and there is no communication.

If any portion of the body be removed, the soul
presides over what remains as long as there is life.
Upon the amputation of a limb, the action of the
soul is not found to be diminished, nor any of its
faculties lost. When a man loses both arms and
both legs, the soul will preside over what remains,
and its sphere of action is limited to the remaining
part of the body. It cannot make use of that
which is not, or which it has not. If the eyes be
shut or the ears stopped, it cannot then see or hear,
but remove the obstruction, and it instantly assumes
its normal condition. This shows that when any
sense or faculty becomes impaired or inactive the
body loses that instrumentality without affecting
the functions of the soul.

128 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

My investigation has led me to believe that
the soul has its headquarters in the highest
forms of matter in each animal. The brain
organ whether in high or low species, whether
intricate or simple, is used for its office. In the
higher species of animals, the soul makes its head-
quarters in the cerebrum of the brain, and directs the
movements of the body as long as life lasts. When
one part of the cerebrum is destroyed, the soul occu-
pies the remaining part, and when both hemispheres
are removed, as can be done without destroying
life in some animals, it establishes its offices in the
cerebellum. In a very few animals the cerebel-
lum may be removed without immediate death,
and the soul would then make its last move to
the medulla oblongata.

An animal may be dissected alive, limb after
limb, muscle after muscle, nerve after nerve, as
some cruel anatomists have done, until but little of
the agonizing bloody form is left, and the sou),
faithful to its trust, will remain until the merciful
angel appears and cries out " it is enough, come up
higher." As the destruction of the functions of the
ear will not destroy sound, as the destruction of the
eye will not destroy light, so the destruction of the

PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY 1 29

body will not destroy the soul. An animal body
cannot exist without some existing cause, some
force, to give impulse in all vital actions ; and as
every cause of motion is external to the object
moved, all animal life must have some cause which
operates and controls the functions of the body out-
side of the body itself.

I can move my hand upward or downward, faster
or slower, or not at all, just as I will. Now if my
hand and the power which put it in motion were
left to be governed by the law of gravitation or
any law governing matter, I would be powerless to
make such motions.

Thus we perceive there is something within the
body which supports it and directs its movements,
and which must necessarily be of a different nature
from the body.

When a man begins to reflect upon his own nature,
he will at once discover that he is a dual being:.
When he begins to think, he does not know where
the thought comes from or in what part of the
body it dwells. When he considers his own body,
it appears to be something different from the person
himself. And when he uses the expression my
body, or the body of me, may it not properly be

130 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

demanded, who is meant by me, or what relation
exists between the matter and the soul of the body ?
It cannot be the body itself that is doing the think-
ing and talking, for matter cannot do either. If he
were all soul or all body, and nothing else, he could
not then speak in this manner, because it would be
the same as to say the soul of the soul, or the body
of the hody, or the I of me. The pronoun there-
fore must stand for something else, of which the
body is only a part, or, in other words, there is
another part of him which is not body. A lower
animal is conscious of its own identity. It knows
that it is the being which is itself, as it can think,
feel, and will, and has the evidence of the existence
of both body and soul. Without consciousness, the
outward world would have no meaning, and an
animal could have no conception of the senses.
Mind and matter would be one and the same. But
we know that matter in itself is inert, senseless, and
motionless, as the body would be without the
spiritual agent or soul to give it animation, and
consciousness of existence.

There is no distinction between man and lower
animals in regard to the chemical elements of the
body, as they are all composed of the four principal

PHYSIOLOGY AND NATURAL THEOLOGY 131

elements, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen,
with the addition of some other elements, such as
calcium, phosphorus, potassium, etc. The matter
which composes the body of a man is no more com-
plex than that which composes the bodies of the
lower animals. Both are subject to the same
external and internal forces, vital and physical, and
consequently, mind, in some degree, as well as
material substance, is found alike in all.

Almost everything in the whole universe is com-
mon to both man and the lower animals. They are
subject to the general laws of gravitation and force,
and are in danger from falls and all impressions of
violence. They are subject to disease, injuries,
pains, and liable to mental diseases, such as melan-
choly and insanity. They need nourishment, a
proper habitation, protection from wanton abuse,
cruelty, or any form of suffering which may possi-
bly be avoided. They have a like nervous system
which is equally sensitive to all the impressions made
upon the body. They are conscious of a liberty to
act or not to act, and have a desire for comforts and
happiness. They have a social feeling and a desire
to love and be loved, and their good and bad dispo-
sitions are formed according to their environments.

CHAPTER IX

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE — POWER

OF REASONING

If we attribute souls to mankind because of certain intellectual
phenomena, we must allow that lower animals have souls for the
same reasons — They are governed by a soul principle the same as
man.

If we refer certain phenomena in mankind to the
possession of souls, we must allow animals to have
souls if they produce the same phenomena. Animals
perform intellectual operations of various kinds sim-
ilar to those performed by man ; and, like different
races of men, or different men of the same race, they
are not all of the same degree of importance.

Animals, like man, have a free will of their own,
and their knowledge is acquired by experience.
We cannot say that they act only automatically.
Neither can we ascribe their cunning and comical
motions and activities to a being so perfect as
Deity. For can Deity be supposed to be taught to
swear and talk obscenely in a parrot, or to chatter
the absurd and irreverent language of a magpie ?

132

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE I 33

Can you fancy that He gives the body of an animal
this or that motion, or places it in this or that par-
ticular attitude at the sound of a curse, the crack
of a whip, or from arbitrary signs of human
actions ?

The Bible plainly attributes the principle of dis-
tinct knowledge and free-will to lower animals in
the passage which says, " For the stork in the
heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the
turtle and the crane and the swallow know the
times of their coming, but My people do not under-
stand the judgments of their God." It is evident
by this that an animal acts upon an intelligent
principle of its own ; for if its motions were the
effect of infinite intelligence, the inspired writer
was very wrong in introducing it as an instance of
regularity to shame man's follies and awaken him
to a sense of his duty or the call of his God.
Hence animals are to be considered as creatures
that move and act of themselves, or as having souls
like man by which they are informed and directed.
The memory of animals, their power of comparing,
distinguishing, and reasoning, and, above all, their
sense, which necessarily infers a sentient principle,
are additional confirmations of this truth never to

134 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

be shaken. They move in consequence of sensa
tions received, are susceptible of durable affection,
can acquire by experience a knowledge of things
by which they are governed, and have a foresight
of consequences. When under the control of supe-
riors, they feel their subordination, know that the
being who punishes them may refrain from so doing,
if he will, and when sensible of having done wrong,
or beholding their superior angry, will assume
a suppliant and depreciatory action, and will make
an effort to apologize and seek forgiveness. They
are susceptible of emulation, jealousy, love, fear,
and other faculties possessed by mankind.

They readily show gratitude for kind treatment,
and become so attached to a friend that they will
attempt to defend him from an enemy at the sacri-
fice of their own lives. They have rushed through
flames of fire to warn their friends of approaching
danger. Dogs have saved the lives of many chil-
dren by plunging into streams of water and drag-
ging them out. They go into distant mountains
amidst the most severe snow-storms, and hunt and
rescue the lost and perishing.

They will risk their lives to defend their young,
and have often been known to feed and care for a

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE I 35

helpless companion. Every species has a language
peculiar to itself, by means of which all the indi-
viduals that compose it are able to converse with
each other, to impart their love, their pains, their
fears, and their desires. They, like man, when
driven to extreme mental and physical suffering, as
a last resort, will deliberately commit suicide.
Many sad instances are on record of domestic
animals, forsaken or abused in such a cruel manner
that they have voluntarily drowned or starved
themselves to death.

If it were necessary I could give numerous well-
authenticated illustrations to prove each of the
mental actions I have attributed to animals, but as
most persons have seen and read a sufficient num-
ber to be convinced that the statements are correct,
it would be a useless undertaking. I have heard
related by truthful persons so many marvelous
acts of the lower animals, and have seen so many
myself, that I am ready to believe almost anything
I hear or read on the subject. They build houses
and provide homes, and live in separate families.
They are capable of education, and a few species
learn to articulate the language of man. They
converse with each other in their own language by

136 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

articulating sounds which they vary into different
tones and manner of expression, and, like man, have
a silent way of communicating their ideas by
gestures, looks, and signs. They had a language
given them long before man was created, and the
chief addition which has been made to it is the
sound-signs used by man. Some animals are
capable of uttering a great number of specific
sounds, and yet we call them dumb simply because
we do not understand their language. Mocking-
birds, starlings, ravens, parrots, magpies, and some
other species, learn to talk, sing, whistle, and
imitate the various sounds they hear. They are
taught to converse in different languages, and
answer in the same language in which they are ad-
dressed. Dogs and monkeys may be taught to use
as many specific sounds and signs for specific
things as some of the lowest types of man, which
shows that they are capable of a progressive educa-
tion. Many animals have the power of reasoning
wonderfully developed. An elephant will break
off a branch of a tree, grasp it in his trunk and
drive off the flies. He will blow beyond an object
he cannot reach, and drive it towards him. When
sick, he will go alone to a surgeon for treatment.

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE I 37

Dogs, squirrels, and many other animals will hide
away food for future use, and thus acquire and hold
property. Birds repair broken limbs with as much
skill as a human surgeon. When the dear little
creatures have their wings and legs splintered and
broken by the cruel sportsman, they form, around
the fracture, a splint made of feathers plucked from
their bodies, mixed with mud or coagulated blood,
which resembles a plaster cast, such as surgeons use.

A horse, when losing a shoe or becoming lame in
the foot, will go to a blacksmith shop where he has
been shod, in order to receive help.

A dog, when wounded, will go to a friend
for assistance, and if he receives it, will return
every day until he is cured. If he chances to find
another lame dog, he will take him to the same
person for help.

Thus animals show a power of choice and of de-
termination, guided by a perception of the nature
of the object to be obtained, and the means to
be employed, exhibiting a great degree of the
reasoning faculties. They are sensitive to kindness
or abuse, and are melancholy or happy according
to their environments.

When we observe the sagacity of a dog, a monkey,

138 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

an elephant, a horse, or any other intelligent ani
mal, and the great variety of ways in which it
will display an intelligent adaptation of means
to ends, laying aside what is usually called instinct,
we must conclude that the faculties of man and
animals are unlike only in degree. Animals are
taught by example, by the imitation and instruc-
tions of others of the same species, and also by
different species, to perform various acts of intelli-
gence, and these acts do not differ from man's so
far as the brain action is concerned.

Animals are progressive in the manner of receiving
their education in all actions, the same as man. Take
a puppy, for instance, and observe his gradual de-
velopment, and the different mental stages of action,
and you will notice he adds new thoughts and actions,
and leaves many features of his early life behind when
he grows older, just as we see in the gradual devel-
opment of a child. Take a young canary bird, and
you will observe that its first notes are imperfect,
like a child learning to talk, but by a constant
effort it will become proficient. At first young
animals are slow and awkward, move imperfectly,
do things incorrectly, but as they grow older, they
improve, and move and act more correctly. In many

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 1 39

instances they are observed to change their usual
modes of operation, to better attain particular ends,
and in many things are capable of a proficiency that
is amazing. Within the last half century, wild as
well as domestic animals have been taught to do
many wonderful things hitherto considered impossi-
ble. It has been stated by the best authority that
lower animals, as well as man, are making great ad-
vancement in intellectual development, and as John
Wesley says, " What if it should please the all- wise,
the all-gracious Creator to raise them higher in the
scale of beings, and when He makes us equal
to angels, to make them what we are now ? " But
before passing from this subject it would be well to
call attention to the fact that there is often great
abuse in teaching animals to do unnatural and
dangerous things. They should not be required to
perform acts which cannot be taught by kind
and gentle means. Any other method is cruel and
unwarrantable, and should be prohibited by law.

The monkey so plainly imitates man, that he is
sometimes classed as a lower type of the same
species. This cunning animal, being so extremely
imitative, will mimic almost every gesture or act he
sees man do, and has such a powerful memory that

140 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

he will repeat the tricks many 3Tears afterwards.
He has been taught to sit at the table, and eat with
knife, fork, and spoon. He will put sugar in tea,
stir it up, pour it into a saucer, and drink and eat
with as much ease and decorum as a human being.
He will wear clothing, and perform many acts of
useful labor, such as cleaning boots, brushing clothes,
churning, and acting in the capacity of waiter.
Under a systematic education, the ape, orang-outang,
and chimpanzee have been taught to perform many
wonderful things. In their native home, they live
in families, construct huts, and defend themselves
against their enemies by the use of clubs, stones,
and other missiles ; and in mental and physical
actions, differ but little from the lower type of
mankind.

As we observe the several faculties and traits of
character, which belong alike to man and animals,
we recognize that some knowledge of things is born
with them and some acquired by a degree of educa-
tion. They are no sooner born than they seek and
greedily embrace remedies to supply hunger and
all bodily wants. A lamb or a babe without any
instructions will seek the proper nourishment from
its mother.

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 141

A young bird will open its mouth and cry for
food upon the approach of its parents. A chicken,
as soon as it is out of the shell, will pick up grains
of wheat, hide itself under the wings of the hen,
and fly from the approach of danger. Cattle feed-
ing in the pasture are more skilful than man in dis-
criminating between herbs or plants, for they easily
discern what kinds are good for food, what for
medicine, and what are to be shunned as poison.

This important fact has often been mentioned by
ancient writers. Pliny said that it was a shame
that all animals knew what was healthful for them-
selves except man. They perform not only what
may be termed simple actions caused by necessity,
but complex actions where choice can come only
from reason. They will travel a great distance to
find a cool place in the shade ; will return to their
former homes when transported for hundreds of
miles away ; and will remember their friends after
many years' absence. Birds, by reason of spring-
time, choose a companion, enter into wedlock by a
solemn manner of espousal, and are true to death.
They select a fit place for building their nest or
habitation, and make it most artistic and beautiful,
beyond the skill of a human architect. They lay

142 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

eggs and, sitting on them by turns to keep them
warm, bring forth young ones, and jointly and care-
fully nourish these until they are able to take care
of themselves.

If a horse is feeding, and the ground becomes
bare, he calls to mind another place, though it be
miles away, where he knows food is more plentiful,
and at once goes to that spot. He will raise
and lower a pump handle in order to get a drink
of water, and will ring a bell for his meals.

A dog knows a man at a great distance, and rec-
ognizes in him either a friend or an enemy. If a
friend, he runs to meet him, and shows by his ac-
tions that he loves him ; but if an enemy, he flies at
him with anger, or goes away from him in disgust.
In considering, in lower animals, the instances of
fidelity, of sagacity, of cunning, of attachment, of
gratitude, and of the way they change their minds
to accomplish different purposes, as well as the dif-
ference between old and young in point of experi-
ence and usefulness, we cannot fail to perceive a
degree of reason which is in many respects superior
to that of some of the lowest types of men.

We find the faculty of reason in lower animals so
well developed, and each individual act so diversi-

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 143

fied and adapted to times, places, and circumstances,
and means to ends, that if man is beholden to rea-
son for his power of adaptation, we must also admit
that lower animals are likewise possessed of a great
degree of rationality.

A dog will recognize its master, but it must be an
effort of memory which enables it to seek him when
lost, to perform the tricks it has been taught, or
the services it is called upon to render. There
must be memory or there would be no recognition.

We are told that a horse, after being absent for
eleven years, when he returned to his former home,
remembered his owner, his stall, the way through
the fields to the brook for water, the spots where
he used to find the best grass, and seemed to recog-
nize all the unchanged surroundings.

A dog returned to his former home after an ab-
sence of eight years, and remembered his former
owner and all the surroundings. An elephant was
known to remember a former keeper it had not
seen for seventeen years, and at the first request,
readily performed some tricks taught by him that
it had not performed since that time.

A poor man in Edinburgh, Scotland, by the name
of Grey, owned a bright little dog named Bobby ;

144 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

and he and his dog were wonderfully attached to
each other. Mr. Grey finally died, and poor little
Bobby fully realized the sad loss of his best friend.
He followed his master to the grave and was the
saddest mourner in the procession.

He refused to leave, and the sexton found bim
lying on the grave next morning. As it was
against the rules to allow dogs in the cemetery, he
was put out, but he found his way back ; and for sev-
eral mornings in succession he was found lying on
his master's grave. James Brown, the old sexton
of the cemetery, was a very kind man and took pity
on poor little heart-broken Bobby, and not only al-
lowed him to remain on the grave, but gave him
his regular meals for some time, until a kind-
hearted restaurant keeper took the matter in
charge, and the dog was fed and properly taken
care of until he died at the ripe age of twelve
years. During many years, though he had many
warm friends, and the offer of luxurious homes
(which he declined), every night, and through
all kinds of weather, he slept on his mas-
ter's grave. The grave of that poor man has long
since been obscured by time, and nothing marks
the spot. Not so the memory of the faithful dog ; a

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 1 45

beautiful monument was erected by Baroness Bur-
dett Coutts, to commemorate poor little Bobby's
undying affection for his master. Such mental
action as was manifested by Bobby cannot pos-
sibly be of a material nature, but belongs to the
highest attributes of the soul.

The horse does not forget the road he has once
traversed, though years may have intervened.
Dogs, elephants, monkeys, and other animals, recog-
nize persons from whom they have received kind-
ness, after a long separation. Some have been
known to treasure up the recollections of wrongs,
and have watched for opportunities for revenge
many years after the abuse.

It is by such phenomena of the animal soul that
we recognize its power of perception. The dif-
ferent kinds of perceptions are as numerous as the
different channels through which they are received,
and they are durable in proportion to the exciting
cause. These impressions, as they are retained, be-
come ideas. The mind has the power of suffering
such ideas to remain latent or unobserved, and of
calling them into observation at its option ; and it
is the active exercise of this power that constitutes
thought. Reason is founded in the consciousness

146 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of thoughts by which actions are governed, and is
the internal evidence of conscious thoughts and the
power to arrive at a conclusion. To be governed
by reason or abstract ideas is a general law imposed
by the Creator upon all animals. An orang-outang,
in Paris, when left alone, tried to escape ; and as he
could not reach the lock of his door, he carried a
stool to the spot, and mounting upon it, took his
master's keys and tried each one until finding the
right one, he unlocked the door as he had seen his
master do, and walked out. Reason only could
have prompted this act, as it would require a com-
bination of ideas to perform it.

It is plain that reason is of a commanding
nature. It enjoins this, condemns that, and ap-
proves or disapproves things as may be best suited
to the notion of the animal.

A dog will grieve to death over the memory of a
lost master, as was the case with the dog of Emile
Zola, the noted French author. "While he was
an exile, his faithful and loving dog, after search-
ing everywhere for several da}rs and failing to
find his devoted master, died of a broken heart.
Zola says : " It seemed to me as if my departure
had killed him, and I wept like a child. Even now

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 147

it is impossible for me to think of him without
being moved to tears. When I returned, a corner
of the house seemed empty. Of all my sacrifices,
the death of my dog in my absence has been one of
the hardest. This sort of thing is ridiculous, I
know ; and if I tell it it is because I am sure to find
in you a tender heart for animals, and one who
will not laugh too much."

One of my neighbors had a bright and beautiful
Maltese cat which seemed to be the idol of the
family. The lady of the house would caress it
and talk to it like a child, and it seemed to have
formed an unusual attachment for her ; but they
decided to move to California, and before doing so,
gave the cat to another family who succeeded them
in the same building. Poor pussy soon recognized
the absence of its mistress, and would go from room
to room in search of her, uttering a low, pitiful, call-
ing noise. Although the new occupants of the
house were kind and gentle, and did all they could
to reconcile the cat, the poor little animal pined
away, and died of grief.

A creature possessing such a determining and
governing power, is certainly a creature formed
to be governed by that power. It seems to

148 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

be as much designed by nature, or rather the
Author of nature, that animals should use their
reason, and be guided by it, as that the pilot,
in the design of the ship-wright, should direct
the vessel bv the use of the rudder he has fitted
to it.

It is rare nowadays to find a man so heartless and
silly as to believe the absurd doctrine of Descartes
and Malebranche, that the lower animals are de-
void of conscious feeling. It seems impossible for
any intelligent person to think that a log of wood
and a sensitive animal are alike as to sensibility ;
that an animal has no more feeling under the
blows of a whip or the cut of a knife, than the log
has under the strokes of a carpenter's ax. "Why
is it that the one cries out with pain and the
other remains silent ? Is it not evident therefore
that the animal is sensible of pain, and the log
of wood has no such perception ? The expression
of pain is more marked than that of joy in the
features of lower animals, and extends even to
the shedding of tears in almost all animals when
undergoing intense agony. The physical signs of
pain consist of changes in circulation and temper-
ature, quickened respiration, dilation of the iris,

INSTANCES OF ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE 1 49

and distorted countenance, all of which are visible
in lower animals as well as in man.

Man and the lower animals are equally supplied
with sensory nerves and are equally subject to pain.
It is not consistent with the nature of the laws of
the Creator that He should make a nerve for man
which is capable of sensibility, and one just like it
in appearance, for lower animals, which is incapa-
ble of feeling.

No physiologist has yet been able to make such
a distinction. How necessary, then, that animals
should be treated as sensitive beings, and not
as automata. That they have reason controlled by
the will is as well demonstrated as it is that man
has that faculty.

It is by reason and will power that migratory
birds are capable of steering, with the precision of
a compass, from one climate or country to another;
and which if possessed by man, might render use-
less the compass for a like purpose.

Carrier-pigeons have been taken hundreds of
miles away, and when let loose, have returned to
their homes in the most direct line. Dogs, cats,
horses, and other animals, will also return to their
homes from a great distance. Thus we are com-

150 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

polled to confess that animals are endowed with
discriminating powers totally unknown to or at-
tainable by man.

Man cannot be regarded as distinguished from
other animals either by acuteness of sensibility or
by muscular power. His swiftness in running and
agility in leaping are not of a high order. That
portion of the nervous system distributed to the
organs of sense, is less developed in man than it is
in most animals. He is surpassed by many crea-
tures in acuteness of sight, sound, and scent.

The power of birds to navigate the air is a favor
shown them which does not belong to man. That
a body so much heavier than air should overcome
the force of gravity, and soar far above the earth,
and, by overcoming the resistance of the atmos-
phere, go directly against the current of wind, is
wonderful to contemplate.

While the intellectual faculties of man are
superior to those of animals, that faculty of the
soul called instinct is far stronger in animals.

CHAPTER X

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
EDUCATED AND UNEDUCATED ANIMALS

Various faculties of the soul — All common to man and lower
animals — Instinct the highest attribute of the soul — It is knowl-
edge direct from God.

Before proceeding further with this subject it
will be best to explain what is meant by the word
instinct, as it is wrongfully used by most theolo-
gians. It is a faculty of the soul, and is character-
ized by unconscious, spontaneous action as deter-
mined by the creatures' wants and necessities. The
word is not found in the Bible, and, like many
other words used by the Church, its effect is to
lower intelligent acts emanating from the despised
animal creation.

The nature of mind and instinct involves the
nature of God, and cannot be divided by some
unknown and uncertain mystical line. Instinct is
not only an attribute of the soul, but the very high-
est faculty that it possesses. The Creator deals

151

I$2 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

more directly with the creature under the law gov-
erning instinct than any known law in the great
cosmos.

Instinct is the highest attribute God possesses,
and a man who would deny that it is immortal,
could with the same consistency, deny that the om-
niscience, omnipotence, or any other attribute of
God, is immortal. Instinct is so closely interwoven
with all the phenomena we see and know around
us, that if it is not an immortal attribute of God, we
know of nothing that is. It is knowledge from
God, directly imparted to animals, not once, but
continually ; and we do not know where it begins
nor where it ends.

It is claimed by theology that the innate idea
of immortality is instinctive in man, as it exists in
some rude form or other even where individuals
and nations have never heard of it through man.

Now as animals are endowed with instinct
superior to man, they may have an instinctive idea
revealed to them that they too are immortal. Who
knows that they have not ? The fact that a man
desires immortality gives him no better assurance
of it than if he did not desire it, provided there is
no provision for him. Every man desires comforts

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL I 5 3

and happiness here on earth, and he would naturally
desire that condition continued throughout all
eternity.

Animals desire comforts and happiness here
on earth. That they have no instinct which leads
them to desire a continuance of these blessings in
another world is an assumption that no man has
ever proven or has any moral right to make.

An idiot, a child, or a heathen could not have a
desire for immortality unless it were instinctive.
The intelligence of man and of lower animals is in
proportion to the amount and quality of instinctive
knowledge. All animals are, in some degree,
rational beings ; and the superiority of man is due,
not to his bodily formation, but to the great
variety of instincts which emanate from divine
wisdom.

Instinct includes more of the faculties of man
than is generally admitted. Take the lowest races
of man, and you will observe that almost all of
their mental actions are instinctive, from the fact
that their wants are analogous to the wants of the
lower animals, but this does not imply that they
are any less entitled to a soul than some great
philosopher.

154 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

It is common to say, when an animal performs
some important mental action, it is instinct ; but if
a man performs the same thing it is called reason.
Most of the phenomena of life are made up of what
is common to man and the lower animals, and if it
is instinct in one it is in all. It is common to eat
when hungry ; to rest when tired ; to sleep when
sleepy ; to love or hate ; to fear pain or death ; to
recognize a friend or an enemy ; and to seek com-
fort and happiness.

The highest aim of man and the lower animals is
the possession or pursuit of bodily wants. Man, be-
sides being man, is also an animal, and is governed
by the same physical and mental laws ; and free-
will no more belongs to him than to other animals.
The only difference is that the mind of animals is
acted upon by fewer and simpler motives. Ani-
mals are free to go in any direction ; free to eat,
drink, walk, run, lie down, quarrel, fight, go astray,
trespass on the rights of others, and follow out the
bent of their minds, and, like man, free to act any
part of life which their organizations may permit
them to do. If I say to my dog, " Give me your
paw," and hold out my hand, it will cheerfully do
so. If I say to a little child, " Give me your hand,"

INSTINCT IS I MM OR TAL 155

it will comply with my request. I say to a horse,
" Lie down," and to a boy, " Lie down," they will
both obey my command. I say to a dog, " Bring
me my hat," and to a boy, " Bring me my cane,"
and they will both do as directed. The mental
action and free-will is reason in one as well as the
other. At some time in their lives each one had
to be taught the relation between the articulate
sounds of my voice, and each had to reason from
the different sounds I uttered which act I wished
performed. A child will look up into my face and
sa}T, " Please open the door," being unable to do so
itself. .My cat will go to the door, pat it with its
paw, and look trustfully up into my face and say,
" Please open the door." I understand one just as
well as the other, though they do not articulate the
same kind of sounds. Both go on the principle of
reasoning from cause to effect. They ask me to
open the door, as they know by that act, they
can walk outside through the open space and be at
liberty to go where they choose.

If this vital energy is the product of the soul in
the one instance it is in all. In infancy, theology
says, that the child is governed by instinct, but as
it grows older, that form of instinct which was

156 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

necessary for its existence disappears. Now if an
infant has a soul, according to theology, while
under the government of instinct, it is certainly the
vital cause of all its actions. So that instinct is the
immortal part of the child.

In the lowest types of the human race, instinct
forms the human constitution, and there are in-
stances where there are no traces of any faculty
above instinct. If such types of mankind have
souls, and are governed by only one form of vital
energy, it is certainly soul energy.

The same argument may be used in the case of an
idiot or lower animals. "We perceive the diversified
operations of the soul and call this energy by differ-
ent names according to different manifestations.
When inferring truth from truth, it is called un-
derstanding ; when tracing a cause to an effect, it
is reasoning ; when contemplating the future, im-
agination ; when reviewing the past, memory ;
when choosing or refusing, will ; and when spon.
taneous, instinct.

As they all refer to the phenomena of vital
action, and there is but one soul to each being, it
must be true that the soul has many faculties, or
else it has nothing to do in controlling the body.

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL I 57

When observing the faculty of love, which is the
highest attribute of the soul, and the strongest tie
that binds together all living creatures, we are
bound to acknowledge that it is manifested in a
greater degree in lower animals than in man.

Christ says, " Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
That lower animals, especially dogs, have repeatedly
sacrificed their lives for their friends, no one will
pretend to deny.

The famous St. Bernard dog, Barry, of Switzer-
land, in a period of ten years, at the risk of his own
life, saved forty-one lives. One of his most credit-
able achievements was when he found a child of
ten years buried in the snow succumbing to the
fatal slumber which precedes death. The noble
dog first warmed the child with his breath, and
licked it till it woke. Then by lying on his side
close to the child, he gave it an obvious invita-
tion to get upon his back, which the child did,
and Barry carried it safely home. Barry went out
during one dismal, cold snow-storm into the high,
bleak Alpine mountains, and after making a long
journey finally found a man in a snow bank. Barry
was always delighted to know he could be the

158 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

means of saving one more life. He commenced to
bark for assistance, and to tug and coax the half-
frozen man, in order to awake him and receive any
message the man might be able to send in for help ;
but the man was unfortunately ignorant of the
dog's proffered kindness, and beat poor Barry over
the head until he was dead ; and thus Barry gave
his life, as many have done, a sacrifice to man's
blind and hasty judgment. The kind people of
Switzerland have recently erected a large and
beautiful monument to the memory of poor faithful
Barry ; and I here declare, that there is not another
monument on earth I would prefer to have assisted
in building.

A short time ago, I read this incident in an east-
ern paper. A little girl was playing on a wharf
when she fell into the water, and was washed
out some distance from the shore. Her faith-
ful dog plunged after her, and by great and pro-
longed effort brought the child near enough to be
lifted out by some person who had rushed to the
rescue ; but the poor dog was so exhausted that he
could not accept assistance, and sank beneath the
waves to rise no more.

The New York Times gives an account of a fire

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 159

in a large barn and carriage house. A dog kept in
the barn ran up-stairs and aroused the coachman
who had scarcely time to escape through the win-
dow. The dog did not attempt to follow, but being
encouraged by his success in saving his master, re-
turned to the lower floor, and made a great, though
pitiful effort to save the horses, but without success,
and all perished together.

A farmer of Winnamac, Indiana, was moving his
family into an adjoining county ; and on starting,
placed the seven-months-old babe in the care of its
brother, who, getting tired of carrying it, laid it in a
basket beside a bush, near a steep bluff, and followed
on without it. On arriving at the new farm the
grief-stricken mother, missing the baby, was frantic ;
and started back for the spot where the babe had
been left. In a short time she met their faithful
dog " Ned " with the babe. He had discovered it,
and was lugging it safely along. As soon as the
happy mother received her child, poor Ned lay down
and died from exhaustion. The affection of the dog
for the child was greater than that of the child's
brother. Such self-sacrifice can only be compared
to the rarest and noblest acts of man. Such noble
animals take the risk, with the knowledge of the

l6o THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

danger and the dread of the exposure. The strange
feeling of affection enables them to overcome the
fear of risks, even of death itself, in order to save the
lives of friends. And they show their consciousness
of having performed such moral acts by their
manifestation of joy for any approbation bestowed
on them. They not only give themselves as a sac-
rifice, but make intercession for the welfare and
protection of others.

My kinsman, Gen. S. B. Buckner, on one oc-
casion, was so deeply impressed by the actions of a
dog that he promptly relieved the distress of a
heart-broken woman.

The Louisville Courier- Journal tells the beauti-
ful and touching story in the following language :
"That was a fine passage between the Executive of
Kentucky and the wife of the condemned man,
who went to Frankfort last Friday to ask for a
pardon. She had presented her papers and sat
breathless whilst the arbiter of her fate perused
them. As she waited, a mastiff, the playmate of
the Governor's little son, an animal not given to
strangers, uncoiled himself from the rug where he
had been lying, and came up in that friendly way
which only dogs know how to affect with perfect

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 161

sincerity. Seeing suspense and pain in the agitated
features of the poor woman, he put his paws gently
upon her knees and began to lick her hands. The
Governor finished the papers and the petitioner
was about to speak, when the grim old soldier said,
' It is not necessary, madam, the dog has spoken
for you,' and straightway signed the document
which was to release a dying man from prison and
enable him to go to his grave from his own home.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin;
and it is hard to say which moves us the more, the
spectacle of that brave gentleman and soldier,
whom it was a delight and pride to hail as our
chief magistrate, stirred to the depth by the silent
eloquence of a dog, or the thought of that noble
brute, inspired by we know not what, to become an
irresistible pleader for mercy before the highest
court. The incident makes a seasonable text. In-
deed, there was as much of truth as sarcasm in the
observation of the cynic, who declared that the
more he saw of men the better he thought of dogs.
" The love of a dog has nothing sordid nor treach-
erous about it. The poor beast knows not how to
dissemble. Governor Buckner knew his son's dog
believed in him. And, when he saw the animal

162 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

make common cause with the grief-stricken woman,
he felt that, if he followed the lead of that dog's pity
and love he could make no mistake. And he did
not ; and then and there the angel that writes in a
book drew a great white mark for that Governor
and that dog."

But no person is competent to judge of the na-
ture of any species of animal until he has had one
of that kind as a pet, and has become intimately ac-
quainted with it by a long and fond association,
and subjected it to a kind and gentle education.
The difference between the educated and un-
educated lower animals is as great as that between
the savage and civilized man. We must study the
nature of lower animals, and endeavor to think as
they think, feel as they feel, and in a sense, place
ourselves in their position. We must regard them
as little children with limited intellects willing to
do our bidding if they can comprehend it. Dif-
ferent families become attached to different ani-
mals. One family will make a pet of their dog
and neglect their cat, another will make a pet of
their cat and neglect their dog, but we must learn
all the particular traits of an animal to know its
intelligent and loving disposition.

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 1 63

When I gaze into the happy and loving face of
an intelligent animal and observe the eyes spark-
ling with animated life, hope, and trust, I become
absorbed in contemplation of a profound mystery.
I see plainly shining through the eyes, which act as
windows of heaven, an immortal soul in the back-
ground. A dog will sit and gaze into a man's face
for hours as if he were trying to understand the
nature of his superior.

Man, in like manner, will gaze into the ethereal
sky trying to understand something of the mys-
terious nature of God. We have often noticed
a dog, on a clear beautiful night, when all
Nature seemed asleep, sit for hours and gaze
into the starry heavens and utter a pathetic,
doleful cry. What it means has never been
satisfactorily explained, but that it is some in-
stinctive devotion is the most reasonable conclu-
sion. Savages who never heard of the Bible have
the same habit.

Theology offers no other reason for denying souls
to lower animals than the simple fact that they
are not of the same species as man. The fact that
others do not belong to the same species or race
has been man's excuse for cruelty throughout his

164 THE IMMORTALITY OE ANIMALS

history. Slavery was once considered legitimate
by all civilized nations, as the slaves were of a dif-
ferent and subordinate race to their masters. The
robbery and murder of foreigners are considered
legitimate to-day by some countries, and the savage
who can boast of the most scalps of other tribes or
races is the greatest hero. Though men may be
cannibals and though they may be ignorant and
cruel, live in caves and holes in the ground, go
naked, and subsist on herbs, roots, snakes, and
lizards, and occasionally roast a fat missionary, yet
they are never denied the possession of souls ; while
innocent, helpless animals are conceived of as
being without this God-given endowment. How
narrow and contracted such a system of theology
to discriminate thus against any of God's crea-
tures.

History is a very important factor in holding
mankind responsible for any great wrong com-
mitted individually or collectively. Less than a
century ago a book was published, in this country,
based upon the hypothesis that the African race
did not have souls, and according to the history of
the case, a large number of good people were per-
suaded to believe in its arguments. The Mahom-

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 1 65

medans, at the present time, deny the right of
woman to a soul equal to man.

"We read in Grecian history of " seven wise men "
who met at regular intervals and formulated
systems of philosophy, and then sent them forth
into the world for people to accept as indisputable.
A similar historical analogy would be that of a few
learned theologians getting together and decreeing
that no one should have souls but themselves or
their special race.

We hope the day is not far distant when
theology will become more Christlike, and include
under the atonement the whole creation that
groaneth and travaileth in pain and sorrow.

One of the arguments of theology to prove the
immortality of man, is the assertion of the fact
that the body is undergoing constant changes and
that yet the identity remains the same. "We are
told by physiologists that every element of the
body changes once in from three to seven years.
And yet the body is regarded as one and the same
throughout such changes. Neither mind nor dis-
position is changed by this molecular change of the
body.

The same man of to-day has not an individual

1 66 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

particle belonging to him of that which constituted
his corporal frame a few years ago, yet he knows
that the soul which thinks within hiin, notwith-
standing all these changes, is the same ; and he is
the same person, who many years ago, played in
such a field, went to such a school, and performed
such acts common to life.

Now if this argument adds anything to the proof
of the immortality of the soul of man, inasmuch
as all other animal bodies undergo the same kind
of changes and retain their identity, there is a
strong presumption that they too have immortal
souls.

Another argument often used to indicate the im-
mortality of man is that of showing how each in-
dividual differs from all others. It is claimed that
no two persons are alike in looks, walk, voice, or
actions, and that the mental faculties are entirely
peculiar to each person; and yet this is equally true
as applied to animals. Although a flock of sheep,
a herd of cattle, or a number of fowls, or a corral
of horses may look alike, yet each one can be
readily recognized by intimate acquaintance.

The fact that man possesses a faculty for enjoy-
ing happiness and that all do not receive an equal

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 1 67

share of it in this life, has been used as an argu-
ment for a future life in order to equalize conditions.

I am perfectly willing to admit the reasonable-
ness of the argument, but at the same time must
urge the claims of lower animals by the same logic.
Notwithstanding the subordinate condition of lower
animals, enjoyment is the proper attendant of their
existence, and we perceive everywhere, when it is
within their power to attain, symptoms of enjoy-
ment and happiness. Their whole being is a sys-
tem of needs, the supply of which is a gratifica-
tion, and of faculties, the exercise of which is
pleasurable.

They more extensively enjoy the happiness which
is limited to their sphere than man in his sphere, as
their mental and bodily functions are less liable
to interfere with their enjoyment. To form so
vast a range of beings, and to make beings every-
where capable of happiness is a conclusive argu-
ment that the destiny of all must be the same.
The faculties of the various species differ, the same
as the different races of man ; but the happiness of
each depends on the harmony there may be be-
tween its particular faculties and its particular en-
vironments. If their bodily wants are supplied,

1 68 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

and they have pleasant and comfortable surround-
ings, they rest in a peaceful and passive manner.

Place a sheep, cow, or horse in a green pasture
supplied with shade and water and it will fully en-
joy the harmony of relations.

In the highest type of man, owing to his superior
organization, he craves more bodily comforts, but
the harmony of the surroundings must be in ac-
cordance with the capacity of the intellect, for
there are many types of the human race that do
not reach higher than animal wants, and when ac-
customed to their condition, are just as happy.
The same is true of all animals ; there is a general
adaptation to the mental and physical constitution
for every species and condition of life. Their so-
cial qualities are of a high degree, and afford them
mutual love and enjoyment.

Their playful nature is a positive evidence of
their capacity for happiness. Horses gallop hither
and thither, snort, paw the air, advance towards
their master, stop suddenly, and again dash off as if
to play a joke.

Dogs when kindly treated and among their
friends are the happiest creatures in the world, not
excepting man ; but when abused and forsaken are

INSTINCT IS IMMORTAL 1 69

the most wretched. They are as much delighted
with play as a child, and seem to enjoy the com-
pany of man more than their own species.

Cats, when properly cared for and trained, are
the most affectionate creatures on earth, and yet
they are the most abused. They will play hide-
and-seek, gambol and frolic when young, and if
kindly treated will retain the same disposition until
they arrive at a good old age.

Birds will chase each other about in play, and
chatter with delight as they go from branch to
branch.

We see only a very small part of the works and
ways of God in animal creation, as they are infinite
in extent ; and yet we see enough to inspire us with
the confidence that " His tender mercies are over all
His works," and extend to all His creatures.

A sparrow falleth not to the ground without His
care, and the very hairs of the head of a man are
numbered ; " how excellent is Thy loving-kindness,
O God, Thou preserver of man and beast." If His
tender mercies are over all, would He give eternal
life to one and eternal annihilation to another ?

CHAPTER XI

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS — COMPARA-
TIVE PSYCHOLOGY

A close similarity of animals — A corresponding structure and
gradation from one species to another — Lower animals possess every
incipient principle of man — This uniformity of design furnishes
proof of the unity and wisdom of the Creator.

I have been speaking of the intellectual powers
of lower animals in order to show that they pos-
sess minds, or souls, analogous to man.

Let us now briefly consider the analogy of man
and lower animals from an anatomical standpoint.
We are taught by comparative anatomy that there
is a close similarity in the bodily structure of all
animals, and that each species possesses many
things common to all.

"When we consider the various organs of animals
separately and trace them through the same class,
we find they exist in a regular and uniform man-
ner, and often observe a part or vestige of a part
of no use, left, it seems, by the all-wise Creator, in

order that the general law of unity might not be

170

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS 171

transgressed. One organ is at its highest state of
perfection in one species of animals and another
organ is the most perfect in a different species, so
that if the species are to be arranged after each
particular organ, there must be as many scales
formed, as there are regulating organs assumed.
You cannot construct a general scale of perfection
which will apply to all animals.

No two species sufficiently resemble each other
to form a proper band of connection, and yet there
is a uniformity of structure in all, and only five
distinct plans upon which the animal structure
is classified by zoologists. Take the monkey which
is of the mammalia class, and most nearly related
to man, and the anatomical arrangements are the
same, bone for bone, and muscle for muscle, and
yet you can take the sternum, ribs, legs, arms, and
hands of a lizard, and they too correspond to that
of man. The limbs of all the vertebrate animals
are of the same plan, however various they may
appear. In the hind leg of a horse, for example,
the angle called the hock is the same part which in
man forms the heel, and the horse, and many other
quadrupeds, walk upon what answer to the toes of
a human being. In many animals the fore part

172 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of the extremities is shrunk up in the hoof, as the
tail or coccyx of man is shrunk up and hidden by
bones and flesh. The membrane of the bat called
wings is formed chiefly upon bones answering
precisely to those of the human hand. In the
paddles of a whale, the flippers of the seal and other
animals of the like species we see the same design.

If you take the skeleton of a man ; incline the
bones of the pelvis ; shorten those of the thighs,
legs, and arms ; join the phalanges of the fingers
and toes ; lengthen the jaws by shortening the
frontal bones ; and lastly extend the spine of the
back, this skeleton would no longer represent that
of a man, but would resemble the skeleton of a
horse.

By lengthening the back bone and the jaws, the
number of the vertebra, ribs and teeth, would be in-
creased, and it is only by the number of these
bones and by the prolongation, contraction, and
junction of others that the skeleton of a horse dif-
fers from that of a man. The ribs which are
essential to the figure of lower animals are found
equally in man, in quadrupeds, in birds, in fishes,
and even in the turtle.

The foot of the horse, so apparently different

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS 173

from the hand of man, is composed of similar
bones, and at the extremity of each finger, we have
the same small bones resembling the hand, which
are bound up in the hoof of that animal.

If the skeleton of quadrupeds, from the ape to
the mouse, be lifted up and placed by the side of
man there will be observed a surprising uniformity
of structure in the whole group. This uniformity
is so constant, and the gradations from one species
to another are so perfect that to discover the marks
of difference requires careful discrimination. There
is a corresponding structure on a common plan for
all animals. The hand of man, the paw of the dog,
the fin of the whale, the wing of the bird, the foot
of the horse, and the wing of the bat are not alike
in outward appearance, and are used for a different
purpose, yet they have an equal number of bones
differently lengthened and arranged for the different
purposes for which they were intended. And as
the bones of man are analogous to the bones of
lower animals, so are the muscles, nerves, blood-
vessels, viscera, and entire structure of the body.
Man walks on two legs, and so do all feathered
animals as well as some other species such as the
gorilla, orang-outang, kangaroo, etc.

174 THE IMAfORTALITY OF ANIMALS

In comparative psychology we are met with still
more interesting phenomena.

The intelligence of lower animals is a profound
mystery to us. We do not know what they think,
nor the extent of their thoughts, but I am positive
they have much more intelligence than is usually
attributed to them, and that the germ of every hu-
man faculty exists in some form and in some species
of animals. As one man does not possess all the fac-
ulties which the mind is capable of possessing, so it
is with the faculty of any one of the lower animals,
but in the aggregate they possess every incipient
principle of every known faculty in man. It is a
matter of fact that the size of the brain does not de-
termine the power of the intellect, neither in man nor
in lower animals. The whale, elephant, and many
other animals have larger brains than man. And
in the proportion of brain weight to body weight
there are many lower animals which have larger
brains in proportion to the weight of the body than
man. The proportions of man represent one-fif-
tieth, while he is surpassed by some species of ape
which vary from one-twenty-eighth to one-thir-
teenth, and some species of bird which range from
one-twenty-seventh to one-twelfth.

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS 1 75

When man attempts to build up some strong line
of difference between himself and some particular
lower animal, he will find that that difference is
supplied in some other species. Thus the Creator
has given us to understand we must acknowledge
a kinship to all animals. There is a relationship,
by descent, between all species of the animal king-
dom, as each species has descended from its own
progenitor, and all progenitors have one common
Parent or Creator. This is the Bible theory of
evolution, and the one which most all naturalists
admit, though variously modified by some.

While the Supreme Being has employed one gen-
eral plan, He at the same time diversified it in
every possible manner, so that we must admire
equally the magnificence of the execution and the
harmony and simplicity of creation. Purpose, in-
tention, and design everywhere strike the most care-
less and the most stupid thinker. The Creator does
nothing in vain, and acts by the simplest methods
and chooses the most proper means to every end.
As our knowledge of nature enlarges we gradually
learn to combine the presumptions arising from
analogy, with other general principles which are
corrected and improved by such knowledge.

176 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

But lest I should be misunderstood I reluctantly
advert to a subject I would much prefer not to
introduce. Some modern scientists have assumed
the hypothesis that the ancestors of the human
race originally sprung from the mammalia next
highest to man. This theory has been advocated
by several learned naturalists of Europe, but
Charles Darwin is the modern champion of the
theory that man and lower animals descended from
" only four or five progenitors."

While I admire Darwin's great mental labors and
his profound researches into the dark and hidden
mysteries of nature, yet there is no doubt his
theory has been a great hindrance to the cause of
humanity, and has worked a great hardship to suf-
fering animal life. It has had a tendency to cause
some Christians to draw a wider distinction be-
tween themselves and the lower animals. They do
not desire to be considered on Darwin's side, and so
they try to make the gulf between man and an-
imals as wide and deep as possible. Some would
prefer to say that animals were senseless, automatic
machines, without any rights or sense of feeling,
rather than to admit that they have immortal souls.
But no man should be so self-important as to dis-

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS 1 77

pute God's right to give to other animals physical
and mental functions in any degree or kind that
His omniscience may choose.

Rev. Dr. Fulton says on this subject, " I must
now carry this thought very much further by lay-
ing down a large proposition. It is simply this,
that a clear recognition of the near relation of man
and beast in the Divine work and purpose of God
belongs to the very foundations of the Christian re-
ligion, and is plainly asserted in Holy Scripture
from the creation of the world until the proclama-
tion of final redemption in Christ." So far as
my feelings are concerned, I am proud to acknowl-
edge that the Creator of animals is my Creator.
Infinite wisdom forms no creature of any kind that
is not fit to excite admiration for the Creator. This
is true of any one of the least of the productions of
divine wisdom and therefore must be so of all.

Man's elevation in the scale of perfection
should not cause him to despise the inferior works
of nature and look upon them as mean and insiff-
nificant. Neither should he take offense at the hu-
mane-doctrine which teaches a continuation of their
existence, because they seem low and small in his
estimation. He should blush to entertain such sen-

178 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

timents when he reflects that life, in all creatures,
is a precious possession, and that He who made man
made every other living being, and He cannot en-
tertain a mean opinion of any creature without some
reproach of the wisdom which conceived it. If it
was not beneath the dignity of heaven to create the
most diminutive animal it cannot be unbecoming
in the same power to continue its existence.

If inferiority is a sufficient reason for excluding
animals from an interest in futurity, it will prove
as much with respect to man who is far inferior to
the heavenly hierarchy.

Take the Fuegean and Hottentot who live in
caves go naked, and eat lizards, and snakes, and
what do they know or care about a New Jerusalem,
a city of many mansions, with streets paved with
gold ? Now if God made a provision for animals
when they were first created, and endowed them
with happiness, and if He restores the lowest fallen
man to mansions and gold-paved streets, why shall
He not restore lower animals to green fields, run-
ning brooks and shady groves ?

The teaching of religious philosophy has been
hampered by creeds and dogmas and the fear
of public criticism. We should not be jealous of

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS 1 79

science, but should exercise reason in determining
philosophical truth. We should not close our eyes
and turn away from scientific investigation because
a few scientists are materialists.

According to Darwin's theory it required a mira-
cle to create the four or five first beings, would it
not have been just as consistent with the omniscient
wisdom of God to have created all according to the
narrative given in the Bible? The formation of
some new species by the union of those standing in
the nearest natural relation to each other is abso-
lutely prohibited by the laws of nature which pass
the sentence of sterility upon all hybrid off-
spring.

Neither can the theory of natural selection pro-
duce new forms, but can only select from the forms
already in existence. If new species are created out
of the union of old ones, we should expect to find
creatures in every stage of progress ; but instead we
find an empty space between each of the several
orders, and between man and the animal next to
him, a distinction which was never changed since
creation.

Forms may be modified by selection, but no well
substantiated new forms have ever been produced.

180 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

The researches of scientists, during the history of
man, for six thousand years, have failed to produce
a single instance. It is true the gradations between
the higher species is well established by the laws of
nature, yet the difference is so well marked that no
doubt is left as to which species each belongs. This
beautiful gradation is well marked throughout all
creation. The scientific world is indebted to Mr.
Darwin for many suggestive thoughts on this sub-
ject, but near resemblance does not furnish substan-
tial proof that man descended from lower forms of
animals.

On the other hand, this uniformity of design does
furnish proof that all animals were created by one
and the same Creator, and that each is endowed
with a physical formation and mental faculties pe-
culiar to its own species. This unity of design is
founded on the most solid argument which the light
of reason supplies for the unity of God ; but the
knowledge of the general fact on which that argu-
ment proceeds is not confined to the student of the-
ology. It forces itself irresistibly on the thoughts
of all who are familiarly conversant with the phe-
nomena, either of the material or of the moral
world ; and is recognized as a principle of reason-

ANATOMICAL ANALOGY OF ANIMALS l8l

ing, even by those who pay little attention to its
most sublime and important application.

There is an effort by some materialists to find the
supposed missing link between man and the ape, but
there cannot be any scientific reason for expecting
to find a missing link between any of the species.
Any remains of extinct animals which prove to be
a separate species, simply adds one more species to
the animal kingdom, and that is all.

M. Cuvier, a short time before his death, had
formed a classification of extinct animals, and his
collection of the species that are now lost to the
world, amounted to about seventy, which would in-
dicate that the theory of a missing link is not scien-
tific to say the least for it.

Mr. Darwin admits himself, that "the great
break in the organic chain between man and
his nearest allies cannot be bridged over by any
species."

Evolutionists fail to establish theories of a per-
manent and tangible nature. They go back to the
origin of forms and attribute a starting-point to
the laws of nature, ignoring the fact that there
cannot be a law without a law-giver. There must
be an intelligent First Cause to make such laws

1 82 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

and keep them in force. Taking these indisputable
facts into consideration, the revealed description
of creation is most consistent with the divine
nature of God, and the only system which has
survived and will survive all the combined criticism
of the scientific world.

CHAPTER XII

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ANIMALS — CRUEL
ANATOMISTS

All animals composed of like substances — Subject to same
emotions and influenced by like causes — A better day coming for
their sad condition — God will hear their cries.

Physiologists have analyzed the brains of man
and of the lower animals and have found that
there is no distinction either on the surface or in
the interior of the cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla
oblongata or spinal cord, as there is a continuous
tract of the gray and white matter which is made
up of an assemblage of ganglia which has no ex-
ternal or internal distinction. In man as well as
in the lower animals the brain is a prolongation of
the spinal marrow and the skull is the prolongation
of the vertebral column.

Brain matter, like gold, is the same, it matters
not where you find it or in what proportions,
whether in man or lower animals, whether in large
or small quantities.

The mysterious pineal gland, a small heart-

183

1 84 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

shaped pulpy substance found in the brain, was
formerly considered the seat of the soul by Des-
cartes and others, but as it is found in lower
animals as well as man, the hypothesis has been re-
jected for that reason.

Chemists have analyzed the brains of men and
lower animals and have found that they are com-
posed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.

Now can these chemical compounds compose the
splendid dreams of Shakespeare or the epic poems
of Milton or the Iliad of Homer ? Can a number
of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms
produce the various intellectual acts of a horse,
a monkey, or a dog ? Can such a chemical com-
pound associate articulate sounds so as to under-
stand language, obey commands, move at will, act
from an impulse of love or hate, and possess the
sensitive faculties of touch, taste, smell, hearing
and seeing?

It cannot be conceived that a combination of
material atoms can produce immaterial actions and
thoughts. It is plain that there is some agent
prior and extraneous to the brain, which acts upon
the mind, or soul, and thereby tells upon the
physical system of animals. While the brain may

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 1 85

be considered the organ of the soul it does not
follow that the soul is the product of the brain.

No system of theology would dare to admit such
an hypothesis. For instance, take the water-wheel
of a mill. The wheel sets the machinery in motion,
but it is not the motive power, as the motive power
is the water.

So the brain will move the different faculties of
the body but the motive power is the soul. Take
the faculty of thought, and we see that it is not the
product of physical forces, and cannot be developed
like the gradual growth of the body, but is a spon-
taneous action guided by a spiritual force.

A letter is brought by the postman to an indi-
vidual ; he reads it and the contents have such
a wonderful effect on his nervous system that
he drops dead. It was purely a mental action,
as the man received some fearful and distressing
tidings.

One friend calls upon another and informs him
that some great catastrophe has happened to one of
his nearest and dearest relatives, and as a result his
friend may lose his sight or hearing or become
paralyzed. Here the thought struck the man with
a physical effect. Thought acts upon the brain,

1 86 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

which acts upon the nerves, and they act upon the
senses. In this way animals are often frightened
to death without physical violence. The sense
of nausea may be excited through the sense of
sight. And by strong mental emotion vomiting
may sometimes be produced.

If there is a pain anywhere in the body it
may be intensely increased by thinking about it or
diminished by a diversion of the thoughts from it.
The history of martyrdom supplies a multitude
of instances which perfectly demonstrate the power
of the soul over the body. A certain Christian
martyr told his friends he would lift his hands
over his head just before death as a token of the
triumph of his soul over the body. In the midst of
the flames, the power of speech gone, the flesh all
crisp so that his friends thought him dead, he sud-
denly lifted up both hands and clasped them to-
gether three times.

We read of a cruel anatomist who opened the
abdomen of a dog, and while she lay in the most
pitiful tortures offered her one of her young pup-
pies, which she immediately began to lick and to
talk to in her own language, and for the time
seemed insensible to her pain. On the puppy's be-

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 1 87

ing removed, she kept her eyes fixed on it, and
commenced a wailing cry, which seemed rather to
proceed from the loss of her young than a sense
of her own torment. We may well blush to con-
trast the cruelty of the man with the loving de-
votion of the dog. The greatest agony which the
body can endure is sustained for the sake of love,
which is the strongest faculty of the soul.

That the mechanism of the nervous system is
governed by an independent, immaterial power is
well established in the phenomena of the allied
spiritual forces known as hypnotism, animal mag-
netism, and mesmerism, which proves that there is
a spiritual nature in all animal life independent of
the physical. All these spiritual forces can be con-
veyed by and to lower animals as well as to man.

Dreaming, which is common to both man and
lower animals, is another proof that all animals
have souls. Sleep is not the extinction but a sus-
pension of some of the faculties which extend to
the body. The soul continues its activity, and
when the body awakes the two continue as before
to act together.

Death is called falling asleep, which is an appro-
priate illustration as, in either case, it is not the

1 88 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

final end of life. During sleep all the faculties of
the soul may be in exercise. The body can hear,
see, walk, utter sounds, and perform the several
offices of life. "When dreaming, the voluntary
muscles are sometimes thrown into action, and the
dreamer moves, groans, or cries. "We often witness
this phenomena of dreaming in dogs, cats, and
other animals.

The soul while destitute of the control of the
body, is often overwhelmed with a chaos of ideas,
rushing upon each other with such rapidity that
the transactions of ages are crowded into moments,
and all kinds of intellectual fancies both possible
and impossible are united together.

Difficult mathematical problems have been solved
by a dreamer which could not be done while awake.
A dreamer may hold an extended controversy with
some one and recognize the arguments used by his
opponent.

I believe many an individual has been conscious
in sleep of brilliant thoughts that would make his
name as memorable as that of Homer or Milton, if
he could only embody and give utterance to them
in his waking hours.

An infant will laugh and coo while asleep, and

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 1 89

we are told it is being entertained by the angels,
which is probably true. But I have observed the
same manifestations in the faces of kittens, puppies,
and other animals, and I must attribute the same
phenomena of soul in the one case as in the other,
which affords a strong ground for the assertion that
lower animals possess an inward sense analogous
to the faculty of man.

It seems to be a well-established fact that the
mind or soul never does and never can exist with-
out thinking. Hence while asleep the mind has
ideas of memory, ideas of consciousness, ideas of
imagination, and ideas of reasoning, which are
some of the most important faculties of the soul,
and are manifested in dreaming with as much
prominence in animals as man. In dreaming, the
vital force is independent of matter, and conse-
quently shows that it proceeds from the faculty of
the soul.

There is another state of the body which bears
a close resemblance to dreaming, which is called
reverie, in which the mind is so engrossed upon
some particular train of thought that the person is
oblivious to everything else. The attention may
be so completely fixed upon one object that there

190 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

is an insensibility to all other impressions connected
with it, although everything which bears upon it
may be in full view. In other words, your mind
may be engaged in one thing and your body in an-
other. You may be so intently engaged in the
music of one particular instrument, of an orchestra,
that you may not recognize the sound of any other
instrument.

It is a demonstrated fact that every part of the
animal system may safely sleep or become torpid
except the soul and vital organs.

Nature has established a law that as soon as the
vital or involuntary functions are discontinued, life
ceases ; the soul deserts the body, the laws of chem-
istry, hitherto held in subjection by a superior con-
trol, assert their authority ; and the whole visible
system falls a prey to corruption and ruin. But
the soul does not suffer with the body, in the de-
struction to which it is turning, but finding the
latter no longer a suitable residence for it and no
longer able to accomplish its purpose, wings its
flight to God who gave it.

Then again it is argued that the soul is imma-
terial, and is superior to the physical organism from
the fact that a person dying of old age will retain

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 191

the mental faculties until the very last breath.
Often we see the most astonishing powers of mind,
the clearest discernment and judgment inhabiting a
wretched, weak, and decayed body. Now if this
argument proves anything for man's immortality
it proves as much for lower animals who retain
their mental faculties to the last moment when
dying from injury, disease, or old age.

It often happens on the approach of death, when
the body has really commenced to decay, that the
soul is perfect in all its conceptions and oftentimes
surpasses its greatest powers when in health.

Physiologists have been making unnecessary and
cruel experiments on man and animals for the last
two or three centuries to satisfy their morbid curi-
osities. They have dissected every part of the body
which can be dissected while living, and every part
of the body after death which could not be done
before. They have caused every conceivable man-
ner of torment that the devilish nature of a man
could invent. They have traced every nerve,
artery, muscle, fibre, and vessel. They have tor-
tured to death by mutilating, cutting, burning,
hanging, and drowning by a gradual process ; they
have roasted, frozen, boiled, and skinned the poor

192 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

animals while in the full possession of the faculties
of their souls. They have laid bare the nerves and
then burned them with currents of electricity which
is the most agonizing torture that can be imagined.
All this has been done to learn something of the
phenomena of life, and what has been the result ?
Thev have become so accustomed to material anat-
omy that they imagine that a thing does not
exist unless they can show it on the point of their
lancet or scalpel. Now can a materialist show an
idea upon the point of his lancet ? Or can he show
a thought on the point of his scalpel ? In measur-
ing the various parts of the body can he measure
off an inch of love, a foot of anger, or a yard of
jealousy ? Can he locate, in that innocent, bloody
piece of flesh before him, in the form of a dog,
where that true and everlasting love it has for its
master is to be found ?

We are glad to know however, that a large ma-
jority of our best physiologists are not vivisection-
ists nor materialists, but believe that there is a
controlling agency or vital principle distinct from
the organization of the body, and are not guilty of
experimenting with the suffering of any living being.

Dr. J. L. Brachet, a cruel physiologist of Paris,

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 193

relates with a degree of pride and pleasure, some of
bis experiments on animals which he defines as
" demonstrations in physiological science." He
speaks of how he tormented a dog by sticking it
with needles placed in the end of a rod, and at the
same time scolding and shouting at it to arouse its
anger. He would retire for a short time and then
return and repeat the experiment until, as he says,
" The animal became furious whenever it saw me,
so I put out its eyes. I could then appear before it
without the manifestation of any aversion. I spoke
and immediately its anger was renewed. I then
disorganized the internal ear as much as I could
and when intense inflammation made it deaf, then
I went to its side, spoke aloud and even caressed it
without its falling into a rage."

Now this " demonstration in physiological sci-
ence " can be made to demonstrate several impor-
tant facts not intended by Brachet. In the first
place, no doubt, the dog had been, up to this time,
as kind and affectionate as a child. It had been
the household pet of some kind family and the
loving and trustful companion of some devoted
child, but was caught away from home and un-
fortunately fell into the hands of an inhuman mon-

194 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

ster. As Brachet proceeded to torture the poor,
innocent animal, it stood it patiently as long as it
could, and then began to show its disapproval, as
best it could, by uttering objections in its own
language against such treatment. This was noth-
ing more than would result in a human being
under like circumstances. " The animal became
furious when it saw me," says Brachet. And why
not ? A kind, affectionate, sensitive animal be-
trayed, scolded, and tortured without any reason or
excuse, why should it not recognize that hideous
face and hellish voice and " become furious " at his
approach ? Then says Brachet, " I put out its
eyes." He could then slip up close to it, but as
soon as the poor dog heard his voice " its anger
was aroused." It is plain to see the reason, all the
way through the experiment, why the dog was dis-
tressed and cried out with a protest at his presence.
It had been tortured from the beginning without
offering it any kindness. Brachet again seized and
bound the dog and thrust an iron instrument into
both ears and rendered it deaf. He then approached
its side and shouted but it made no demonstration.
What a wonderful " demonstration in physiological
science," that a man should shout to a poor blind

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 1 95

and deaf animal without attracting its attention.
But the saddest part of the experiment is yet to
come. Up to the time he put out its eyes and des-
troyed its hearing he had never offered it any
kindness, but after this cruel work he says he
" caressed it without its falling into a rage." Now
just think for a moment of the action of that dog
at the first offer of kindness through all that in-
tense agony. Here was an affectionate, forgiving
nature in that poor, bleeding, blind, and deaf dog
which seems more like the nature of Deity Himself
than an animal, as it exhibits a virtue far superior
to the nature of man. After that incarnate fiend
had done all of his bloody and cruel work, the poor
dog was ready and willing to make friends and
kiss the murderous hands which had caused its slow
torture to death. But the dog and the man have
long since been dead, and now comes the question,
where are their souls ?

What kind of justice, love, and mercy would give
the soul of that man an eternal home in heaven
among the good, merciful, and pure, and doom the
soul of that loving and forgiving dog to an eternal
annihilation ? All nature shrinks from such injus-
tice. There is something in the idea of annihilation

196 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of a poor, helpless, innocent being so appalling to
human nature that it withers up all that is generous,
hopeful, and noble in man's nature. To think that
when some poor animal has suffered all the abuse and
torture its sensitive nerves can bear and then when
the icy hand of death forces the struggling life
away, it is lost in the dark and dismal tomb of an-
nihilation, would freeze the very heart of a sensitive
human being and spread over his nature the most
sad and dismal gloom imaginable.

Every kind of being as well as man, was created
for the glory of God. Alas, then, that there should
be so many heartrending scenes spread out before
us, scenes so terrible that the liveliest imagination
cannot portray them nor the most gifted tongue
describe them. Everything in the great cosmos
was created and designed for some special purpose
or else we impeach God's omniscience and omnip-
otence. I wish to make plain the incontrovertible
fact, by what we see and know of the phenomena
of nature, that nothing is low, nothing little, noth-
ing in itself unworthy, in the view of the great
Creator and common Parent of the universe ; that
nothing is beyond the reach of His benevolence, or
the shadow of His protection.

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 197

God alike supplies the wants and ministers to the
enjoyment of every living creature ; He alike finds
them food in rocks and in wildernesses, in the bowels
of the earth, and in the depths of the seas.

His is the wisdom that to different kinds and in
different ways, has adapted different habits and
modes of being, and has endowed each with an in-
telligence sufficient for existence. If the inanimate
matter which forms the universe exhibits design
and purpose it must follow that the animate or
higher forms of creation have a higher and nobler
purpose in creation. When we look up to the sky,
as the orb of day is gilding the whole horizon, we
at once discover that the Father of the universe de-
signed it to diffuse light and heat ; when we look
at the hills and the mountains, we think that they
were placed there to attract the humid clouds that
float through the atmosphere so that the fertilizing
streams might descend upon the earth ; when we
look at the great expanse of stars each of which is
a sun surrounded by worlds, we think of the future
provision the All- wise Creator has made for poor
suffering animals. In short, when we turn our at-
tention to the various parts of creation we must recog-
nize that all are framed for a purpose by the Creator.

198 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

We cannot suppose that lower animals, the fair-
est and noblest of all God's creation, except man,
with bodies and powers capable of development
and possessed with affections and gratitude more
durable and faithful than man, are soulless. In the
mighty plan of the infinite mind a higher object
than that assigned inanimate matter, has been as-
signed animals and we believe that God in His
wisdom and justice has caused to dwell within
every living creature a soul whose duration of ex-
istence no limit can be assigned. Everything I
have learned of the Creator leads me to believe
that there must have been some other object in
view when He created animals. He did not intend
them to pass through this world in sorrow and suf-
fering with the end doom and annihilation. It
Avould be to say that God created all things and
then gave an eternity to the heavens, earth, and
man, but left the lower animals alone of all His
creation to be annihilated.

Look at the little bird, that shakes its beautiful
plumage ; spreads abroad its wings ; soars joyously
aloft, and there floats in the blue heavens above us,
and sings its sweet song of praise to God who made
it. There is exquisite grace in the form of that

CRUEL ANATOMISTS 199

precious little body ; there is supreme wisdom dis-
played in its structure and plumage; consummate
benevolence manifested in its intelligence and hap-
piness, and the melodious song it sings was taught
it by the Great Teacher of all things. Yes, Nature
tells us there is a Creator who will not annihilate
His creatures. We see God in everything around
us. In the moon we discover His purity ; in the
sun His glory ; in the abundance of autumn His
benevolence; in the lightning's flash His power;
and in His long patient dealings with man His in-
finite love.

Must we think otherwise of His justice ? For six
thousand years the whole creation has been groan-
ing and travailing together in pain and sorrow.

When shall we look for the day of deliverance
for suffering animals which form the largest part
of creation ? We think the time is near " when
the desert shall become a beautiful field, and the
fruitful field be accounted for a forest and the
spirit of the Lord shall be poured out upon them."
For the animals which are in darkness and suffer-
ing a better day is dawning.

The morning is already beginning to break upon
the mountains. The voice, not of one, but of thou-

200 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

sands is heard in the wilderness saying " prepare
ye the way." In the whole history of God's ways
we cannot find a single instance of His failing to do
justice — not from the hour of the transgression of
Adam and Eve — not from the flood — not from the
promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, when
the thunder and lightning gave awful demonstra-
tions of His authority — not from the entrance of
Israel into the promised land — not from the ter-
rible period when the Jewish economy was swept
away and the nation destroyed — and not from the
agony on the cross when all creation was promised
eternal life.

Justice to animals will come. God does not de-
light in the suffering of His creatures but His justice
must be vindicated, and thus it is that the mercy of
the gospel mixes with the letter of the law.

His delight is in the happiness of that eternal
nature which He Himself has formed, and except it
be to the injury of those high moral attributes, He
ever rejoices in scattering the fruits of His benevo-
lence over the grateful and rejoicing family of His
creation.

CHAPTER XIII

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS — THEY POSSESS A
MOEAL SENSE

Some animals have been the companions of man from the begin-
ning of creation and will follow him to his final destiny — Man and
lower animals will be restored to a new Garden of Eden.

Animals are liable to infelicity as well as man,
and as it is one of the chief arguments in theology
that there must be a future for man in order that
he may be recompensed for the miseries of this life,
so we would reason for animals.

Animals have their dark hours of distress and
silently and patiently suffer many sorrows mentally
as well as physically. They suffer from disease,
injuries, abuses, various wants and all kinds of
cruelties inflicted upon them by man. They finally
languish and die in agony, like the beings that are
above them.

And yet for all this we are told by some that
they have no share in a future life. If such is the
case then we must conclude that they were pro-
duced in an evil hour and a fatal moment ; for it

201

202 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

appears as if the principle of sensibility, in a world
where evil predominates, is a huge misfortune, and
an ungracious gift, provided the creatures endued
with it have no interest in the benefits of a better
life.

To bring a being into a state of unmixed happi-
ness, in any degree, can be no injury to it ; or into
a state of unmixed happiness, provided the happi-
ness certainly overbalances the contrary, and the
unhappy or suffering part be not greater than the
being would prefer in order to obtain the happiness
rather than lose it.

Nor can any wrong be done by producing a be-
ing subject to more misery than happiness, if that
being has it in its own power to avoid the misery,
or so much of it as may leave the remainder of
misery not greater than what it would rather sus-
tain than miss the proportion of happiness. The
only case then, by which wrong can be done in the
production of any being, is where it is necessarily
and unavoidably made miserable without any
recompense or balance of that misery ; and such a
case is so grievous, so utterly inconceivable to all
reason, that the heart of a reasoning and consider-
ing man can scarce bear the thought of it.

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS 203

Now, we well know that there are millions of
beings whose grief and suffering have far out-
weighed all their enjoyment, and who have not
been able, either by their innocence, their appeals
and cries, or any power in them to escape their sad
fate.

Then how can we acquit the justice and reason-
ableness of a Creator upon whom these poor crea-
tures depend, and who leaves them such great
losers by their existence, if there be no future state
where proper amends may be made?

Is it reasonable to suppose that the man whose
hands are all stained with the blood and cruel tor-
tures of some innocent, helpless creature and whose
life has been full of plenty and grandeur, shall at
death, be wafted to the skies and admitted to an
eternal happiness while the poor victim of his tor-
ture shall be blotted out of existence ?

To suppose such a case is to suppose such a con-
stitution of nature, as can never flow from a princi-
ple of reason and justice.

That man and lower animals have a common
destiny we believe is established by historical facts.

They are classed together throughout the Bible
from Genesis to Eevelation.

204 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Lower animals suffered with man in the fall.
They have perished with him in deluges, in confla-
grations, in famines, in pestilence, in destruction of
wars and have been his constant companion from
the day of his and their creation. As they have
attended man through all his history they will also
attend him in his final deliverance and be restored
when he is restored, and have a place in those
happy regions, where nature shall reassume the
splendor and elegance of primeval beauty, in the new
world which God has prepared for all His creatures.

The attributes of God point out a continuation of
that mighty chain of living beings, which is the
astonishment of all contemplative minds. And
must there not be a huge chasm, and a vast defect
in the great cosmos, if all nature is to be radically
destroyed below man ? Must there not be want-
ing, on this hypothesis, myriads of creatures to
testify the excellence of the Creator ? What can
exhibit the perfection of infinite life, but the com-
munication of all possible degree of it ; of infinite
goodness, but the gift of all possible degree of hap-
piness ; and of infinite power, but all possible
varieties of beings, which can be conceived or
imagined ?

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS 205

We can look no way now without meeting the
instances of the greatness of the Deity; and will
there be fewer testimonies of His perfection in a
better world ? If anything is certain, it is that the
perfection of God will never be less visible in His
works in the future than they are at present.
Though the ills of this world are very unequally
divided, yet we have the consoling thought that
amidst all the calamities and miseries with which
wre are surrounded there may be a bright hope of a
better world where all pain is excluded and the
souls of all God's innocent creatures are in a state
of perpetual peace and happiness. This undoubt-
edly is the most consistent view that any system of
theology can offer for the sad cosmical derange:
ment of creation, and the only system which can
compensate for the suffering of the innocent and
give to the Creator the attributes of justice and
mercy.

I wish to plainly express my convictions on this
subject. I believe, with the great teacher, St. Paul,
that " salvation is made perfect through suffering."
God's communicative goodness is always the same,
and as His benevolence is eternal, He will continue
to impart His blessings beyond the fleeting period

206 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of the present time, in after ages forever. The
ways and works of Divine Providence are not all
clearly revealed, and yet, a contemplation of them,
though now they are wrapped in clouds and dark-
ness, is the source of much pleasure and furnishes
many noble arguments for praise and reverence.

If this is the case now in the contemplation of
the works of creation, what will it be when all the
secrets of nature are unfolded, when every creature
which God has made becomes a recipient of bless-
ings, as they did on the day of their creation in
primeval innocence, when

" Man, beasts, and bird, yea creatures all,
No longer curs'd for man's sad fall,
In chorus join'd shall voices raise,
To sing their lov'd Creator's praise."

That animals have a moral sense has been proven
in so many different ways that it is no longer
doubted. Some animals may not reach to the high
point of the requirements of modern theology, but
they do recognize a sense of right and wrong.
"When we compare that intense unselfish love and
w7orship a dog will show for his master, and how
trustfully he will look up to him as a superior be-
ing, to that of the worship of an idol by the Hot-

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS 20"]

ten tot, we see a religion in the dog which approxi-
mates nearer the Christian religion than that of the
savage. The dog worships a living, intelligent be-
ing, possessed of a soul, while the savage worships
objects without life or sensation, such as wood or
stone. Thus when we compare the moral sense of
the most intelligent and kind animals, such as the
horse, dog, elephant, and other of like good disposi-
tion, to the low and degraded types of man, there
is no question that the lower animals practice a
superior form of religion. We often see lower
animals rising to a higher grandeur than man.
" Love your enemies " was one of the most beauti-
ful lessons taught by Christ, and yet we see it
practiced in the lower animals to an extent never
attempted by man.

The birds praise God as they "sing among the
branches." And as St. Francis says : " There
is no degradation in the dignity of human nature
in claiming kinship with creatures so beautiful,
so wonderful, who praise God in the forest even as
the angels praise Him in heaven." There are
animals which would sooner starve than pilfer
or steal under the greatest temptations, there are
some invariably true to their attachments, that

208 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

show affection and profess friendship which noth-
ing but death itself can dissolve.

Animals could not be domesticated without a
conscience to direct them in matters of right and
wrong. Without it a dog could not be true, faith-
ful, and responsible for his acts.

A dog will often resist abuse from a grown
person which he would allow in a child without
any attempt to protect himself.

A horse will allow a child to crawl beneath him
and cling to his legs without making an effort
to dislodge or hurt the child.

The huge elephant by kind treatment becomes so
gentle and true to man that he restrains his great
strength and allows himself to be led by a child
and will step aside to protect it.

Animals' sympathy and love for each other show
a moral sense. They will defend each other
against an enemy. Birds have been known to feed
their blind, helpless, wounded, and orphaned. It is
a pitiful sight to see a poor mother cat go hungry
herself in order to feed her babies. But even
if animals have no knowledge of right or wrong,
that does not change their chances of immortality any
more than the case of an infant, idiot, or heathen.

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS 20Q

Neither man nor lower animals are immortal by
any choice or knowledge they may have on the
subject. It is a direct gift from the Creator to His
creatures, and lie cannot give it to one without
giving to all, unless He is partial in His beneficence.
It is certain that the future life of animals cannot
be absolutely denied without impeaching the attri-
butes of God. It reflects upon His goodness to
suppose that He gave to animals their sensitive
nervous systems ; intellectual capacities for love,
devotion, and happiness and then subjected them to
pain and sorrow without recompense. It reflects
upon His wisdom that He should form them for the
miserable duration of a moment, without leaving
Himself the power to extend their existence, or
to better their condition. It reflects upon His
love, that He should expose them to the horrible
evils of nature, and the cruel treatment of superior
beings, which a tender disposition would be con-
cerned to remedy or prevent. It reflects upon His
justice, to suppose that He would destroy without a
recompense, creatures that He had brought into a
state of infelicity and capacitated for everlasting
happiness. All of these conditions would reflect
upon God's attributes did He not place all His

2IO THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

creatures under the same immutable law of im-
mortality.

But it is consistent to believe that God raised
this mighty frame of things, in His great cosmos, in
order to diffuse His goodness and display His
glory. He conferred life and sensibility upon
an infinite variety of creatures, with a view to
their happiness, and gave existence to all the
amazing diversity of forms in the universe, in
order that His power and wisdom might be known,
and made a provision for the restitution of all
creatures to primeval peace and happiness in order
that His love and justice might be manifested
throughout all creation. Notwithstanding the di-
versity of creation among men and lower animals,
all will have such places allotted them in the future
world as are best suited to their respective natures
and capacities. Their capacities will be extended
and enlarged, in order to equalize the differences in
this life. The weak and undeveloped will be made
equal to the greatest and all will advance together
in a uniform grade to a higher state of perfec-
tion.

In man there is an undeveloped nature, and
it matters not how great his attainment, there

INFELICITY OF ANIMALS 211

are still capacities for greater attainment. His
full development is reserved for a future state. As
about one-fourth of the human race die in infancy,
their powers must be developed in the future state
if they ever become rational beings. If the
dormant mind of a savage or an idiot ever becomes
sufficiently developed to enjoy a future existence, it
must undergo a spiritual growth in the future
life.

Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that all
beings are in an embryotic condition, and require
another life to complete their permanent existence.
That lower animals have undeveloped and incom-
plete capacities requires no argument, and that
their lives are merely embryotic and that this ger-
minal beginning will be developed in a future state
is as true as that the capacities of a child, an idiot,
or a heathen will undergo a spiritual growth in the
future state. As there is no waste in nature and
all beings are endowed with certain abilities and
capacities for life and happiness, if by any cause
such endowment cannot be realized, then there
must be a future state in order that they may be
fully developed and enjoyed.

It is evident that God intended to confer upon

212 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

all His creatures a uniform degree of happiness
when He gave them life and sensibility and pro-
nounced them all " very good."

CHAPTER XIV

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS — A PLURALITY OF

WORLDS

A new heaven and a new earth — It is to be a place and a coun-
try— Many worlds awaiting to be inhabited by poor fallen animals
— Room for all.

Taking it for granted that animals have im-
mortal souls and share with man a future life,
the question naturally arises, where is to be their
eternal abode ? There are some subjects on which
we are obliged to exercise faith in connection with
evidence. Such are the subjects of time, immen-
sity, space, pure incorporeal intelligence, infinity,
matter created out of nothing, innumerable systems
of worlds, innumerable orders of beings, and a
future life.

There may be primal causes as they appear to us
which are the effects of other causes that are invis-
ible. We sometimes know that such a thing will
have such an effect, or that such an effect is produced
by such a cause, but the manner we may not know.

The innumerable instances of things which seem

213

214 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

to be created with reference to certain ends, and
things which are propagated and repeated by the
same constant methods, are enough to convince us,
that there are ends proposed and rules observed,
which we do not see or understand.

The Bible plainly describes a real place for the
eternal home of all His creatures, and I often won-
der why people try so hard to make heaven so
ethereal and mystic, when the inspired writers
made such an effort to make it plain that it is ma-
terial in its nature. The Bible tells us that it is a
solid expanse, over which rests the throne of God
supported by the mountains as its pillars ; which
makes it plain that there is a real place or world
beyond the starry firmament where all life is to be
continued.

The Bible teaches that there is to be a general
resurrection of all bodies and that the bodies and
souls shall again be united to dwell forever together
in eternity, and that could not be the case without
some natural and material paradise or original
Garden of Eden for their abode. We cannot con-
ceive of bodies existing except within some definite
and circumscribed limits, as they must of necessity
occupy a definite and limited portion of space.

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 21 5

Enoch and Elijah entered the heavenly world
both soul and body. Job says that after his body
is destroyed, "in my flesh I shall see God."

The exterior nature of Christ's humanity must
be located in some particular part of a visible and
tangible world. How earnestly did St. Paul, during
his suffering, long to " depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better."

We know not in what part of the wide universe
the throne of God is built and the eternal temple
stands, but that it is a place and not a state the
Scriptures lead us to believe. It is described as a
" better country " free from all evil both of soul
and body. Christ tells His followers, "in My
Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not
so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you." St. Paul says " Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is the mother of us all."

It is represented as the " city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem," " Mount Sion," "the joy
of the whole earth." St. Paul speaks of Abraham
sojourning " in the land of promise, as in a strange
country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and
Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for
he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose

2l6 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

builder and maker is God," and further on he says,
" here we have no continuing city, but we seek one
to come."

In the book of Revelation, St. John gives a mi-
nute description of a material heaven, and says,
" The foundations of the wall of the city were
garnished with all manner of precious stones.
. . . And the twelve gates were of pearl ; and
the streets of the city were pure gold . . . and
it had a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal
. . . and on either side of the river were twelve
kinds of fruits."

St. Peter says, " We look for a new heaven and a
new earth where dwelleth righteousness." St. Paul
in speaking of the saved, says, " But now they de-
sire a better country, that is, a heavenly : where-
fore God is not ashamed to be called their God ;
for He hath prepared for them a city." So it is
reasonable to conclude that God has prepared a
" place " and a " country " for the future abode of
all His creatures.

Whether man and lower animals will occupy the
same place does not enter into the question of the
immortality of lower animals, as that matter rests
with the Creator, and not with man. But the

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 217

Bible teaches us that animals were created long be-
fore man, and since man's creation they have been
inseparabty linked together from the first day of
his creation to the mythical future spoken of by
St. John, when he saw in heaven " round about the
throne the beasts and the elders and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands."

The word earth means our own world, the planet
which we inhabit and the space around the heavens.
The Bible tells us there are three heavens, the first,
second, and third. The first is the atmospheric
heaven, or the expanse ; the second is the astronom-
ical heavens, comprising the stars and planets ; and
the third is the highest heaven, the throne of God and
the home of the heavenly hierarchy and all spiritual
life, for " the Lord hath prepared His throne in the
heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all."

It is evident the Creator has used a uniform
gradation in all the things visible to us, and we
must conclude that it is extended beyond our
vision. The existence of an effect infers directly a
cause. Every just consequence is founded on some
known truth, by virtue of which one thing may fol-
low from another.

21 8 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

It implies no contradiction or absurdity, from
what we see and know, to say that there are
probably many beings invisible and superior in na-
ture to us. Since it has been proven by philoso-
phers that all corporeal motions proceed originally
from something incorporeal, it must be as certain
that there are incorporeal substances, as that there
is motion.

So there may be above us beings of greater
power, and more perfect intellects, and capable of
more wonderful things, who yet may have corporeal
vehicles as we have, but finer and invisible.

The great complex system of our earthly planets,
satellites, and comets, which revolve around the sun,
is only an infinitesimal portion of the myriads of
like systems which are composed of the same sub-
stance and regulated by the same laws which the
All-wise Creator has made for some purpose. When
looking up on a clear night and beholding the
bright sky with such a glorious galaxy of stars,
how few realize that those bright stars are suns
which are the centers of solar systems of worlds ;
satellites and comets like our system, majestically
sweeping around in space, all created and controlled
by the omnipotent laws of God.

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 219

As we view this great expanse of the heavens and
extend our view as far as we can with our natural
eyes, we know that there are still worlds beyond,
for we call in the most powerful telescope to our
aid, and in proportion to its power we see myriads
more, till at length, we resign ourselves to imagina-
tion and in the confusion of our thoughts and the
weakness of our language, we speak of space as be-
ing filled, and of matter as being infinite.

Our conception of the number of stars is wonder-
fully increased by the consideration that each fixed
star is a sun like our own glorious orb, and each
the centre of a system around which other worlds
revolve. Instead then of only one sun and one
world in the universe, the science of astronomy has
discovered to us suns upon suus, systems upon sys-
tems, and worlds upon worlds, dispersed through
boundless space, and that our world would be no
more missed from the countless millions rolling in
ethereal space than a drop of water from the ocean.

Astronomers classify the stars by calling the
most conspicuous "of the first magnitude." But
few persons can see any smaller stars than the fifth
magnitude. The ordinary telescope shows faint
stars down to the tenth, while the most powerful

220 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

instruments reveal those as low as the twentieth.
The same process increased in power would demon-
strate that still beyond the vision of man, and the
most powerful telescope are myriads of stars filling
the purpose for which God created them.

But let us notice our own solar system more mi-
nutely. We have seven large planets, or worlds, be-
side the earth, and about two hundred and thirty -five
smaller ones, and twenty moons belonging to our
system. Each planet is a world in common with
ours and governed by the same laws.

They receive light and heat from the sun, and
they have their satellites or moons which revolve
around them. They revolve upon their axis and
have their days and nights and seasons. They
have their clouds and moisture, and consist of the
proper chemical constituents to support vegetable
and animal life. The surface of some of these has
been sufficiently examined by astronomers to reveal
hills, valleys, mountains, rivers, lakes and seas.
God works by the same laws in all of His creation,
and the conclusion is obvious that our globe is a
specimen of all the similarly placed bodies of space
as respects its constituent matter and the physical
and chemical laws governing it. We are the more

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 221

entitled to draw such conclusions, because there is
nothing singular or special in the astronomical
situation of our earth different from many other
planets.

From this hypothesis we conclude that as other
planets are composed of the same elements and
governed by the same laws with similar environ-
ments, they are capable of supporting vegetable
and animal life. But it is not so much a question
as to whether they are inhabited as whether they
can be. To deny that they can, would be to deny
the omnipotence of God. When He who "hath
made the heavens, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth and all things therein " de-
sires more inhabitable worlds, He will create them.
God has all eternity wherein to do His work and
takes His own time for each process. " One day is
with the Lord as a thousand years." We are here
taught that the space which has intervened between
the present time and the period when man and
the lower animals were first placed upon the globe, is
but one of the units of a vast series of chronological
periods which have gone before, and which stretch
backwards into the abyss of immeasurable duration.
The same law of force and matter has been in use

222 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

throughout all the past ages, working out the great
plans of cosmical arrangements, yet the process has
been progressive and advancing.

The discoveries of modern astronomy lead us to
the conclusion that certain progressive operations
are going forward, analogous to those which appear
to have been carried forward in remote ages, and
many planets appear to be in stages of progress for
becoming habitable worlds. The appearance of
new stars, the disappearance of others which had
long shone in the heavens, and the gradual diminu-
tion of the light of others and the change which
appears to be occasionally taking place on the
surface of the sun and the various planets, along
with other celestial phenomena, are indications of
the progress towards the preparation of a "new
heaven and new earth.'" Is it reasonable to sup-
pose that these worlds which are greater than ours
have been swung into existence for no other pur-
pose than to occupy a useless space ? That they
are placed in the heavens only to adorn and be-
spangle a canopy over our heads for mere orna-
mental purposes ? Would this be a reasonable
conclusion of the goodness of God, when our
earth is full of His creatures groaning and travail-

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 223

ing under intense suffering waiting to be re-
deemed ?

Eev. Dr. Chalmers says : " "Why then suppose
that this little speck, called the earth, should be the
exclusive abode of life and intelligence ? What
reason to think that those mightier globes which
roll in other parts of creation, and which we have
discovered to be mighty worlds, are not also worlds
in use and in dignity ? Why should we think that
the great Architect of nature, supreme in wisdom
as He is in power, wTould call statety mansions into
existence and have them unoccupied ? "

Certainly we have no moral right to lower the
dignity of the Creator by supposing He has not
made a wise provision for the care and future
happiness of all His creatures.

Christ says, " O ye of little faith. . . . Be-
hold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns : yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them." Nehemiah says,
the " Lord hath made heaven, the heaven of heav-
ens, with all their host, the earth and all things
that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein,
and Thou preservest them all " ; Ezekiel says,
" Saith the Lord God, behold all souls are Mine " ;

224 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

and Job savs, " In the Lord's hands is the soul of
every living thing." These passages, if words
mean anything, are conclusive proof that God does
care for His creatures.

The Author of the material elements is also the
Author of the structure of man and lower animals
upon one general idea and governed by the same
general law. So we reason by analogy of the en-
tire cosmical arrangement of the universe.

When we observe our own earth with its great
variety of mountains, hills, valleys, plains, rivers,
seas, trees, and plants, and the many races of men
and species of animals, we must conclude that the
millions of other worlds are not a barren waste
swung into space without a purpose.

Our earth takes its place in the series of planets,
which series is only one of the numberless other
systems forming one group. Hence we cannot
suppose that there is any peculiarity about it
which does not belong to multitudes of other
bodies, in fact, to all that are analogous to it.

The solids, liquids, and aeriform fluids of our
globe are all reducible into about sixty substances
known in chemistry as elements. Science has fully
demonstrated the fact that Mercury, Venus, Mars,

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 225

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are composed
of like substances as our earth which is one in
common with the others.

They have a resemblance to our earth in various
ways. We can know of one that its surface rises
into inequalities, that it swells into mountains, and
stretches into valleys. Of another that it is sur-
rounded by an atmosphere which may support the
respiration of animals. Of a third, that clouds are
formed and suspended over it, which may minister
to it all the bloom and luxuriance of vegetation.
And of a fourth that a white color spreads over its
northern regions, as its winter advances and that
on the approach of summer their whiteness is dis-
sipated, giving proof that there are rains, snow,
heat, cold, and seasons suited for vegetable and
animal life.

Herschel says, " When we contemplate the con-
stituents of the planetary system, they are bound up
in one chain, interwoven in one web of mutual re-
lation and harmonious agreement, subjected to one
pervading influence which extends from the centre
of the farthest limits of that great system, of
which all of them, the earth included, must hence-
forth be regarded as members."

226 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Newton says, " All the planets are composed o L
the same matter with the earth, such as earth,
water, stone, etc."

Rev. Dr. William Whewell, one of England's
greatest philosophers, in his latest work, in speaking
of the satellites, says, " We then find that the shin-
ing points which we see scattered on the face of
the sky in such profusion, appear to be of the same
nature as the earth, and may perhaps, as analogy
would suggest, be like the earth, the habitations of
organized beings ; that the rest of the heavenly
host may, by a like analogy, be conjectured to be
the centres of similar systems of revolving worlds ;
that the vision of man has gone traveling onward
to an extent never anticipated, through this multi-
tude of systems, and that while myriads of new
centres start up at every advance, there appears to
be no limit."

Sir David Bremster says : " Analogy strongly
countenances the idea of all the solar planets, if not
all the worlds in the universe, being peopled with
creatures not dissimilar in being and nature to the
inhabitants of the earth."

T. C. Simon, in his work, " Scientific Certainties of
Planetary Life," supports the idea " That mere dis-

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 227

tance of the planets from the central sun does not
determine the condition as to light and heat, but
that the density of the ethereal medium enters
largely into the calculations. Neither on account
of deficient or excessive heat, nor with regard to
the density of the materials, nor with regard to the
force of gravity on the surface is there the slightest
pretext for supposing that all the planets of our
system are not inhabited by living beings with
animal bodies like our earth."

Richard A. Proctor, one of the most profound
mathematicians and astronomers of this age, has
written a book in which he gives reasons for his
belief in a plurality of worlds with living beings.
In speaking of some of the planets he says : " But
shall we recognize in them all that which makes
our own world so well fitted to our wants, such as
land and water, mountains and valleys, cloud and
sunshine, rain and snow, rivers and lakes, ocean
currents and wind currents, without believing in
the existence of forms of life ?

" They exhibit in the clearest manner the traces of
adaptation to the wants of living beings such as we
are acquainted with. . . . Processes are at work
out yonder in space which appear utterly useless, a

228 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

real waste of nature's energies, unless, like their
correlatives on earth, they subserve the wants of
organized beings." Of the stars he says : " We
see that the stars are suns, around which revolve
myriads of worlds; and that the natural phenom-
ena, such as we are familiar with as due to the
solar heat, must be produced in these worlds by
the heat of their central sun ; and there must exist
vegetable and animal life."

Robert Chambers, author of " Vestiges of Crea-
tion," in speaking of the satellites, says : " We have
to suppose, that every one of these globes is either
a theatre of organic beings, or in the way of be-
coming so. Such an idea is in accordance with our
general conception of the dignity, not to speak of
the power, of the Great Author."

We see matter as originally diffused throughout
our own globe, consequently we presume matter
to be everywhere the same in other globes. Light,
heat and moisture are universal agents and bear
marked relations to organic life and structure.
Vapor or atmosphere, heat and light, pervade
throughout, as do carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and
nitrogen, which are the elements in vegetable and
animal life. Now if the other globes have the

FUTURE ABODE OF ANIMALS 229

same constituent parts as our earth, namely, heat,
light, and moisture, and have the same rough sur-
face, is it not reasonable to suppose that they
abound with hills and mountains, valleys and
plains, lakes and rivers, plants and trees, and
could be made the homes of animals ?

Then again, if this is a correct hypothesis, and
applies to more than one globe, it might well apply
to all. If it does apply to all, then we have count-
less millions of worlds to be a " place " and a
" country," beyond the computation of finite minds,
for the future abode of all animals.

When we contemplate the magnitude of the
heavens, our entire solar system with several plan-
ets larger than our earth, we readily observe that
our globe is infinitely small compared to the im-
mensity of the great expanse of " the heaven of
heavens."

So the matter of room does not enter into the
question of the immortality of animals. It is true
when we stop to contemplate the mighty host who
have gone before, we become amazed at the num-
ber. Of the two hundred and fifty-two billions of
human beings supposed to have lived on the earth
since Adam, not more than one billion ever heard

230 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

of Christ, which would leave two hundred and
fifty-one billion on the same equality with the
lower animals so far as the Christian religion is
concerned. But not without hope. They are in
the hands of God with the promise that " Christ
gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due
time."

CHAPTER XV

MAN AS GUARDIAN OF THE LOWER ANIMALS —
MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND

Bible enjoins kindness — Many instances of cruelty — The cries
and moans of poor suffering animals plead for mercy — Man is
responsible for their sad condition.

In view of the common destiny of man and lower
animals, and their equal sensibility to pain, it be-
comes evident that man, as guardian, is under a
moral obligation to be kind and merciful to lower
animals as well as to his own species. "When man
avails himself of the service of lower animals he
should use such methods in the management of
them as is in accordance with their intelligence,
sensibility, and nature ; and not have recourse alone
to force, compulsion, and violence. If they should,
now and then, show restiveness and opposition, or
refuse to do as they should do, men should learn
to make proper allowance for such obstinacy of
temper by reflecting upon themselves as beings with

inclinations of their own, and conscious frequently

231

232 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

that they are not willing to do at the bidding of
others.

Man should regard lower animals as being in the
same dependent condition as minors under his
government, and not put into his hands to be
wantonly tormented, beaten, cut, shot, stabbed, and
mutilated. For a man to torture an animal whose
life God has put into his hands, is a disgrace to his
species. Such a man ought to be ostracized from
decent society.

It is lamentable that at a time when the world is
possessed of so many superior advantages, when
the men of to-day so far exceed former generations
in the attainments of science, and when heaven
itself has interposed to teach so many tender les-
sons of pity and compassion, that we should be com-
pelled to witness the wanton cruelty which is prac-
ticed and which we are powerless to prevent.

Animals are every day perishing under the hands
of barbarity, without notice, without mercy, fam-
ished as if hunger was no evil, mauled as if they
had no sense of pain, and hurried about incessantly
from day to day, as if excessive toil was no plague,
or extreme weariness was no degree of suffering.

While it is clear that the lower animals have

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 233

many claims to consideration in the great economy
of Divine Providence, and the same assurance of
immortality, yet as stated in the preface, I do not
urge this as an incentive for man to be kind and
merciful to animals, for the obligation remains the
same whether they have souls or not.

Their status as respects a future life does not an-
nihilate suffering and pain. Pain is pain ; it makes
no difference whether in an animal, a man, or as
endured by the Son of God.

Moralists and materialists base their standard of
ethics upon the light derived from nature and
reason, and upon this same basis we urge the kind
treatment of animals by reason of the universal
moral law of justice and of mercy. In doing so
we defend the cause of that class of beings to
which Nature, though she gave capacity for pain,
denied the power of remonstrating, after the man-
ner of men, against suffering.

Kindness to animals is not confined alone to
Christians nor to Christian nations. The code of
moral ethics as first taught by Gautama Buddha
was equal, and in some respects superior, to that
of any other religion at that time. This great
Oriental philosopher taught gentleness, kindness,

234 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

peace, harmony, philanthropy, love, and virtue, and
abhorrence of vice, long before the Christian era,
and was the first to repudiate and prohibit the
horrible and useless ceremony of animal sacri-
fices.

Later on his religion became blended with Brah-
manism, and as a result the Brahmanic sacrifices were
abolished. It is a sad fact that at the present
time this religion has somewhat degenerated from
its original standard. Nevertheless it is still true
that religious teaching in the Oriental countries is
replete with injunctions to tenderness and kind
treatment of lower animals.

The Buddhist Scriptures teach that "The practice
of religion involves, as a first principle, a loving,
compassionate heart for all living creatures. Be-
cause he has pity upon every living creature, there-
fore is a man called holy. That the slightest act
of charity, even in the lowest class of persons, such
as saving the life of an insect out of pity, that this
act shall bring to the doer of it, consequent
benefit. . . . All living things of whatsoever
sort call forth compassion and pity as they shall
always exist in the spirit.1' Crude as the religion
of the Hindus appears, yet they teach a moral code

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 235

of ethics towards lower animals which would make
a suitable chapter in the creeds of the Christian
church. The following is a sample of Hindu
theology : " He who injures animals that are not
injurious, from a wish to give himself pleasure,
adds nothing to his own happiness, living or dead ;
while he who gives no creature willingly the pain
of confinement or death, but seeks the good of all
sentient beings, enjoys bliss without end."

Man does not occupy the highest position in
God's creation, and can claim only a share of His
attention. The distance between man and lower
animals is but a span, compared with the difference
between man and the heavenly creation.

Man forms a part only of the animal kingdom,
and the Saviour has enjoined upon him to be
merciful to all creation even as his Father in
heaven is merciful. The Bible plainly teaches
that if we expect mercy we must be merciful, not
only to our fellow-creatures, but to all inferior
animals. Every act of cruelty to animals as well
as from man to man, is certainly offensive to the
Creator of all beings. The lower animals look up
to man for happiness as man looks up to God. In
advocating the cause, then, of these creatures by

236 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

which we are everywhere surrounded, in lifting up
our voices in behalf of these beings that cannot
plead for themselves, we are surely not overstep-
ping the requirement of God who has enjoined
upon us the duty of opening our mouths for them.
It is a plain moral duty, and as Rev. Dr. Norman
McLeod says : " I would not give much for the re-
ligion of any man or woman whose cat and dog were
not the better for it." Anna Sewell, in Black
Beauty, teaches the beautiful lesson that, " There
is no religion without love, and people may talk as
much as they like about their religion, but if it
does not teach them to be good and kind to beasts
as well as man it is all a sham."

Before his fall, man was given dominion or guard-
ianship over all living creatures, but just what effect
the fall had upon his relation to animals cannot be
ascertained. There is one thing very obvious, that
the lower animals, as well as man, are not enjoying all
the happiness now that they once possessed. They
are involved in sufferings consequent upon the fall
of man, being committed to the same fortunes with
us, and partaking with us of the privations, sorrows,
and dangers which we have brought upon ourselves
by our guilt and disobedience. We ought to take

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 237

pity on theni the more on this account, and instead
of aggravating, diminish as far as we can the neces-
sary evils of their lot.

Our own sorrows should teach us to sympathize
with the distress of others. The kindness of God
to us in our low and lost estate should, in like man-
ner, induce us to have mercy on the creatures which,
without any blame of their own, are involved in
the consequences of our transgression. Man by
his superior intellectual qualities has assumed the
position of " Lord of earth," but the right to rule
is not the right to tyrannize. The notion that an-
imals were created only for the use of a man is a
weak and unwarrantable conceit. They were cre-
ated long before man, and would have been better
off if mankind had never been made. They were
the objects of God's creative love, and were made
to glorify Him the same as man, and to say that
man was given dominion or guardianship over them
to oppress and abuse them Avould be to reflect upon
the goodness and wisdom of the Creator.

Power, like every other talent and blessing, was
given to man to be exercised in justice and mercy.
Though he claims the right to take the life of an-
imals it does not follow that it is lawful to inflict

238 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

on them unnecessary pain. It is inhuman and bar-
barous to prolong their suffering by carelessness, or
for selfish purposes, or for amusement. Though
man claims the right to destroy certain noxious an-
imals, yet pity is due them also. To torture is un-
manly ; to tyrannize where there can be no resist-
ance, is the extreme of baseness.

There is no sin so heinous, or one that has been
so little noticed and condemned by good people, as
that of cruelty to animals. It is true that the legis-
latures of some States, and the corporations of some
cities have taken the matter in hand, and have
made laws to prohibit some of the most prominent
exhibitions of wanton cruelty ; and societies for the
same purpose have been organized and supported by
some of the greatest and best men of our nation ;
yet this great and much needed reform is only in
its infancy. "We could recall the names of many
who have given the better part of their lives to
mitigate the cruelties practiced on animals. Is it
not a brave and noble thing upon their part to
have stood so many years between the oppressors
and their quivering victims and to have borne so
long the contempt and ridicule of a great majority of
people who claim to belong to a Christian country ?

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 239

All honor to those great benefactors. "While it
is true that we as a nation have made slow progress
in educating people to believe that cruelty to an-
imals is a great sin, yet it is not so common now as
it was thirty or forty years ago. I remember when
quite young going into slaughter-houses, and wit-
nessing cruelties which have left an impression
upon my mind never to be forgotten.

I do not believe that any man or woman of noble
sentiment and sympathetic nature, unless hardened
by familiarity with such sights, can look into a
slaughter-house and see the agonies, and hear the
dying groans, and see the display of trunkless heads
of calves, pigs, cattle, and sheep, and the bleeding
and partly flayed carcasses, or look upon the
blood-stained apron of the butcher in his shop, as
he uses his monstrous knife, without a shudder, and
a feeling of self-condemnation in being accessory
to this wholesale slaughter by using meat. In one
sense it seems vain to talk about this murderous
work being done humanely, and such are its effects
upon the sensibilities of people that in some States
butchers are not allowed to sit upon a jury in cases
involving the life of a criminal. Captain Bruce,
the celebrated traveler, relates scenes of cruelty in

240 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Abyssinia that have not often been referred to, so
repugnant are they to humanity, and yet practices
of equal barbarity have been found in our own
country. It would be a tedious work to particular-
ize the numerous instances and kinds of cruelty that
our religious country is guilty of.

How often are we called upon to witness the
abuse of the horse, the most useful and willing ani-
mal in the world. How often, reduced to weakness
by age and suffering, after years of faithfulness, he
is made to drag out a miserable existence, or is
subjected to cruel stripes by reason of his inability to
accomplish labors which in his more vigorous days
he would willingly have performed. How many
do we see on our highways wounded and bleeding,
pushed on to a speed for which they are disabled.
How often do we see them struggling in vain
with burdens beyond their strength, the patient
victim of the most brutal outrages, lacerated by the
lashing of their cruel masters, and goaded on to re-
new the struggle, till they fall prostrate on the
streets in hopeless agony. Many times we see the
poor old faithful horse, after he becomes too feeble
to do the work of his cruel master, turned out on the
common to die from starvation.

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 24 1

Plutarch teaches the Christian world a beautiful
lesson on this subject in the following words : " A
good man will take care of his horses and dogs, not
only while they are young, but when old and past
service. "We ought certainly not to treat living
beings like shoes and household goods, which when
worn out with use, we throw away."

Are not the innocent and helpless birds, which,
in the beautiful language of Scripture, " sing among
the branches," stoned, shot, wounded, and murdered,
to exercise the ingenuity of the youth ? In read-
ing the life of Rev. Dr. Channing there is one inci-
dent recorded of his early youth that impressed it-
self more upon my mind than anything pertaining
to his personal habits, and yet it may be regarded
by some persons as being of too little consequence
to be mentioned. "When he was a little boy, one
day on his way to school, he found in a bush a nest
full of young birds. As they opened their mouths
and begged for something to eat, he gave them a
part of his dinner. So every day he prepared some
food for his birds. The old birds seemed to under-
stand it and were delighted at his kindness. But
alas, the evil hour came. One day he went to the
nest ; there it lay on the ground, torn and bloody,

242 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

and the little birds all dead ; and the father bird
was crying on a bush, and the mother bird was cry-
ing on a tree, as if their little hearts would break.
Then little Channing tried to tell them that he did
not kill their poor little children, that he never could
do such a mean, cruel thing as that, but that it was
some wicked boy that did it. He said he tried to
feed them and help them along, so they might fly.
But it was of no use ; he could not console them.
They kept on crying until this kind-hearted little
boy could not contain his feelings any longer, but
sat down and wept with such agony that he was
found and taken home in an unconscious stupor.
No wonder, that with such an early impulse
of kindness he grew up to be a man noted
for kindness of heart and a great religious
teacher.

"While Abraham Lincoln was President, and dur-
ing the darkest hours of the war, he was walking
in company with others near a hedge, and saw a
young bird fluttering in the grass near by. He
stopped, picked it up, and while he was walking up
and down the grove to find its nest, his companions
walked on, but the great and kind-hearted man con-
tinued his search until he found the place from

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 243

which the bird had fallen, and then gently placed
the tiny creature in its nest.

How important that good people, who are anx-
ious that the world should grow better, should
honor and extol such noble traits in human nature.

"Among the noblest in the land,
Though he may count himself the least,
That man I honor and revere
Who, without favor, without fear
In the great city dares to stand
The friend of every friendless beast."

Notwithstanding the rough and hard struggles in
Martin Luther's life, he had a tender and loving
heart above the average of most men. On observ-
ing a bird go to roost he made the following beauti-
ful and tender remark : " That little fellow has had
his supper, and is now going to sleep quite secure
and content. Like David, he abides under the
shadow of the Almighty, and lets God take
care. How happy are the little creatures singing
so sweetly, and hopping from branch to branch.
We might well take off our hats to them and say,
my dear Herr Doctor, we could not have learned
thy art of trustfulness. Thou sleepest all night,
without care, in thy little nest ; thou risest joyful
in the morning, and praisest God, and then seekest

244 THE IAfMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

thy daily food. Why cannot I, poor fool that I am,
live like these little saints in the fulness of content
and trust."

Almost every one seems to enjoy, to some extent,
the destruction of life. Some children at a very
early age delight in such amusement. They will
catch flies and other insects and pin them to boards,
pull off their legs and wings, and seem to enjoy
their painful writhings and flutterings. They are
often taught by thoughtless parents the early use
of whips, sling-shots and air-guns, and soon delight
to torment and maim every creature they come in
contact with.

"While in college I was frequently called upon to
witness the experiments made on animals by the
hypodermic syringe, air-pump, electricity, and some
of the most horrible and useless forms of vivisec-
tion. Such cruelty ought to be prohibited by law.
Men who claim to be teachers are lost to all sense
of humanity when they practice such useless and
barbarous experiments. It is a miserable education
for the young to behold poor creatures suffering
with agony of the most horrible kind, for the pur-
pose of making physiological demonstrations, which
may be just as accurately made without the ex-

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 245

pense of suffering. The power which was given by
the Almighty to man for the protection of His crea-
tures is frequently and wantonly used in tortur-
ing, where pity should prompt to an opposite
course.

The cries and moans of the poor oppressed crea-
tures plead in a language too pathetic to be disre-
garded except by those who disgrace the name they
bear. " The beasts of the field," says the pathetic
voice of inspiration, "cry to Thee, and Thou near-
est them,1' and surely those sufferings, unjustly in-
flicted, must ultimately call down the vengeance of
that Being whose ear is ever open to the cry of dis-
tress. The voice of nature cries aloud against such
conduct. From the winged birds and insects of the
air, from the beasts and living things upon the
earth, from the harmless inhabitants of the waters,
there is a continued cry to God against the wrongs
they are made to endure. The man who unmerci-
fully abuses one of God's creatures without a
cause, is a disgrace to his species, a tyrant of a more
ignoble, but not less hateful kind, than he who
makes use of the privileges of a throne to molest
and injure his fellowmen. He sports with suffering
which is always sacred to the good ; he oppresses

246 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

the defenseless, a cowardly action, and he gratifies
his malignity, a fiendish principle of joy.

It is impossible for any one unless he is insensible
as a stone to the sight of suffering, or wilfully shuts
his eyes to the truth, to doubt for one moment the
appalling statement, that man by his cruelty, and
oppression, and injustice, has made himself the
enemy of the whole animal creation. Why is it
that almost every creature, with instinctive horror,
shuns the approach of man ? Is it not because the
creature has been made to feel that man is his
enemy, and that he is cruelly dealt with when he
falls into man's hands ?

It is related that when Prof. J. D. Dana, the
great naturalist, was on his voyage in the South
Pacific seas, he landed on one of the coral islands
which had never before been visited by man.

" He went ashore in the early morning, and be-
held a scene of tropic loveliness, brilliant with
beauty and abounding in life. A great flock of
tall, white birds was on the beach, and as he
walked towards them they looked at him with no
fear and with nothing but a gentle curiosity.

" They never had been frightened by powder and
the deadly sting of the bullet. They knew nothing

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 247

of the cruelty of man. He walked among them
and placed his hands upon their tall, downy heads
and necks, and stroked them as if they were pets
in his own family. Then he planned to kill one
and take it home for his museum ; and selecting his
victim, he took out his pen-knife, and stroking the
head of the beautiful bird, pressed the keen point
through the white plumage into the neck until the
feathers were spotted with a single drop of blood.
The bird turned his head and looked into the great
naturalist's eyes with an almost human gaze of
wonder and appeal. The knife was withdrawn.
A deep fountain of pity and love opened in the
good man's soul, and he turned away and left
these innocent unfrightened creatures of God un-
harmed."

We call lower animals wild because they are in-
telligent enough to keep out of the reach of man
who is their worst enemy. If they have never
been mistreated and are assured of man that he
will treat them kindly they will soon learn not to
fear him.

Deer, antelope, buffalo, swan, squirrels, and many
other animals that are wild in their native state, if
placed in a park and treated kindly will soon be-

248 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

come tame and gentle, and seem to really enjoy
man's society.

Fish will flee from the approach, or even the
shadow of man, but can be tamed and become
so confiding that they will approach to the edge of
the water and take food out of a man's hand.

"We read in the life of Kobinson Crusoe that
when he was shipwrecked and drifted ashore on an
island where no human being had lived, he soon
tamed all the animals so that they were his friendly
companions. Whether this be true or not, yet the
principle is true. The golden rule will work with
animals, in most cases, as well as with mankind.
All successful tamers of ferocious as well as domes-
tic animals, are men who treat them with perfect
kindness.

Almost any sin can say more for itself than
the sin of cruelty to animals, as there is no tempta-
tion nor good reason why such a sin should be
committed. As the lower animals have not the
power of expression, and of complaining of their
wrongs, we should not take advantage of their
condition. The more helpless the object of op-
pression be, the greater the demand on our sympa-
thies. We feel more deeply when injuries are

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 249

done to the poor than when done to the rich. We
feel more deeply when injury is inflicted upon the
widow and the orphan, than upon those who
are surrounded with friends, and in the midst of
prosperity. We feel more when injury is done to
a helpless infant, than to a man in strength and
vigor, and able to defend himself. Now, were man-
kind guided by this principle in regard to the
lower animals, how careful they would be not
to inflict cruelty, and how tender would be their
treatment. When man is oppressed or injured,
however so helpless, he can tell his wrongs, and
point out the person who inflicted them. The poor-
est of the earth can publish the shame of those who
grind their faces with oppression; they who re-
ceive unjust punishment can raise their voices
against the guilty tyrants.

But the poor and often unpitied animals have
not this power and this privilege. Though the
barbarity with which they are treated be ever
so cruel, they cannot complain of their merciless
usage. With a sensibility to suffering as strong as
that of a human being, they are doomed to submit
to whatever man may inflict without the possi-
bility of making it known, and without the aid

250 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

which sympathy and hope are fitted to in-
spire.

When men are called to endure agonizing tor-
ture it is seldom that they have not some one to
sympathize with their sorrows, and to do all that
tenderness and pity can do to alleviate their distress.

But the animals unsupported, unsoothed, solitary
and silent must bear their heaviest burdens and en-
dure their greatest agony. There is no one to be-
stow upon them a word or look of pity.

It is impossible to estimate the obligations under
which we are laid to the animals, for the numerous
ways in which they minister to our happiness ; and
what I contend for is that these ministrations
should be secured with the least possible expense of
suffering. Animals doomed to slaughter should
be slain by the least painful and the least pro-
tracted process of dying ; those subject to us
for labor should be treated with gentleness and
nourished with care ; noxious animals and those
that men have found it necessary to destroy, should
be destroyed without any uncalled for suffering ;
while the insects which flutter in the air should be
exempt from cruelty, and treated with mercy. All
living things are objects of God's peculiar care. If

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 25 I

the lower animals had not received an equal share
of God's kindness and compassion we might view
the subject in a different light. But instead of
there being condescension on the part of man
in showing mercy, it is seen to be only his Christian
duty. On one occasion God spared a guilty city
from destruction, because it contained much cattle.
The innocence of the cattle was not only the cause
of the city being saved, but it helped to prevent
Nineveh from being destroyed with six score
thousand persons. This is one among many strik-
ing instances of God's care alike for man and
beast. God said, "Every beast of the forest is
Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I
know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild
beasts of the field are Mine."

Man in his folly and in his pride, may imagine
that animals are beneath his regard, and that he, a
rational and immortal creature, may treat them
with contempt and with carelessness. But such is
not the mind of Him who is good unto all, and
whose tender mercies are over all His works, and
who, though He listens to the praise of angels,
is not inattentive to the falling of a sparrow or the
cry of a raven.

252 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

God makes a plain statement in His word as
to man's moral obligation to animals in the follow-
ing passage, " A righteous man regardeth the life
of his beast." This single passage most decidedly
proves that it is a part of a Christian's duty to
attend to the happiness of his own animals.

We have as much right to take this statement as
a test of Christian character as any other state-
ment in the Bible. It certainly cannot afford
pleasure to a good man to see animals sacrificed as
victims to cruelty for any purpose whatever, and
the nature of man is nowhere seen in a more de-
grading light than when employed in exciting and
superintending the brute combatants in the arena
of animal warfare. I wish that it could be said
that such scenes were known only in the dark ages
and in barbarous countries. We despise the ambi-
tion of the conqueror who rides at the head of a
triumphant army, when he aims at renown, by
spreading around him misery and death, but how
infinitely more contemptible are those laurels which
are gathered in the contested fields of animal war-
fare, when the fierce antagonists grapple with each
other, and one or both sink in the agonies of death.
Most mean and cowardly employment! most un-

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 2$ 3

worthy of man, who has been provided with ca-
pacities for so much higher enjoyment in the fields
of mental and moral improvement. Besides this,
see the effect it has on the character of those who
are cruel to animals. If we look into the annals of
crime, we find that some of the worst forms of
guilt have had their origin amid such scenes. If a
man is cruel to animals it hardens his heart and
paves the way to cruelty to his fellow-men. He
who can unfeelingly look on any instance of suffer-
ing which his own hand or counsel may have
caused, has surely the capacity of looking with a
corresponding degree of insensibility, on the deep-
est agonies that can writhe the frame or the heart
of his fellow-creatures.

A man who unscrupulously vents his ill-nature
against animals will become severe, harsh, and even
savage in his dealings with his fellow-creatures. A
man who is cruel in his treatment of animals can-
not be considered a safe and good husband, a kind
parent, a humane neighbor, or a gentle and tender
friend. Cruel and tyrannical to the poor defense-
less animals, he will, of necessity, carry the same
temper into the relations and transactions of human
life, and be an offensive, a violent, and even a

254 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

dangerous member of society. Men cannot change
their dispositions like their dress, but whatever dis-
position they encourage will become habitual and
natural.

The wrath vented upon animals by beating is
a passionate and senseless wrath, like that which a
fretful, impatient man would show to inanimate
things. The inferior creatures often, have not
only to do the work of man, but to bear his spleen,
and endure his senseless anger. Men think there is
no evil in such actions because they can strike or mal-
treat an animal without its being able to make the
cruelty known, or without themselves being answer-
able to the laws of the country. But if the cruel
man appears so repugnant to all good people, how
does he appear in the estimation of that God whose
tender mercies are over all His works, and who has
given us a positive command that we must be mer-
ciful even as He is merciful ? Is a man fit for heaven
that holy, happy place, where there is nothing to
hurt or destroy, but where love rules in every
bosom and binds all the inhabitants into one band
of the most endearing and holy intercourse? Or
shall he not rather have his place assigned to him
with those dark and malignant spirits who delight

MORAL DUTY TO BE KIND 2$$

in misery as their proper work, and who are con-
signed to a state of congenial wrath, and enmity
and despair ?

CHAPTER XVI

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY — AX EARLY
HUMANE EDUCATION NECESSARY

Some of the forms of cruelty — Man should seek a Letter pastime
than sporting at the sacrifice of suffering — Kindness is an indica-
tion of greatness.

Let us next consider some of the means by
which the sin of cruelty to animals may be cor-
rected.

As the propensity to cruelty often makes itself
apparent in very early life, all who have the early
training of the youthful mind ought to make it a
distinct object of their care to check such tenden-
cies. No parent or teacher can be considered as
doing his or her duty who does not repress such
tendencies by instilling better and wiser views of
humanity. Mark with displeasure every act of
neglect and cruelty; teach the children to view all
living things as objects of God's core, and that He
is interested in their happiness and displeased with
any evil that is done to them. Some leading views
and predominant inclinations never fail to take

256

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 257

possession of the young while the mind is pliant
and flexible and these become habits and are
moulded into character, either virtuous or vicious.
It is the natural tendency of many children to be
cruel and to do all sorts of mischief ; consequently if
the business of an early education was more thor-
oughly understood and proper restraints used to
prevent cruelty, there would be fewer criminals to
contend with.

J. W. Cottrell, general superintendent of the
Detective Association of America, made the follow-
ing statement : " With twenty-iive years' experi-
ence as an officer, I know of but few criminals
who were taught to love animals, and searching
for the cause of crime, I find that the lack of hu-
mane education is the principal one."

George T. Angell, President of the American
Humane Education Society, says : " Standing be-
fore you as the advocate of the lower races, I de-
clare what I believe cannot be gainsaid, — that just
so soon and so far as we pour into all our schools
the songs, the poems and literature of mercy to-
wards these lower creatures, just so soon and so
far shall we reach the roots, not only of cruelty
but of crime. A thousand cases of cruelty can be

258 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

prevented by kind words and humane education
for every one that can be prevented by prosecution."

King Edward VII, in an address before the
Koyal Society to prevent cruelty to animals, made
the following remarks: "The conductors of our
educational establishments will more and more
recognize that it is one of their great duties to
imbue the mind of the young with the conscious-
ness that, besides showing kindness and gentleness
to their fellow-creatures, they ought also to show
kindness and gentleness to the brute creation, to
which we owe so much. The more this is taught,
the more this feeling is inculcated, the more rapidly
will the objects of this excellent society be accom-
plished, and the more certainly will the time arrive,
as we hope it may, when the range of its duties
and action will be greatly diminished."

Hence it is the business of a proper education to
direct the young mind to a proper regard for the
rights and happiness of all living things.

To instruct the youth in the languages and in
the sciences, is comparatively of little benefit to
the world, if they are not taught to be kind and
law-abiding citizens. How often we see parents
thoughtlessly place a whip, air-gun, sling-shot and

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 259

other destructive missiles in the hands of their
children and then encourage them to torment and
punish the innocent, confiding cat, dog, or other
domestic animals.

How little do they realize that they are paving
the way for a future criminal of some sort. A
want of thought on the subject is a far more com-
mon cause of cruelty than a positive depravity.
But a poison is no less deadly because it is taken
thoughtlessly than if taken designedly. A cruel
wrong committed whether by ignorance, delusion,
or thoughtlessness makes no difference to the in-
jured as the suffering is the same.

The way then to make the world better, and to
abolish cruelty, crime, war and poverty, is by insti-
tuting a more humane and better system of edu-
cation.

The various humane organizations mentioned in
the dedication of this book are doing a grand and
noble work by publishing and sending out millions
of leaflets, tracts, pamphlets, books and periodicals,
the object of which is to promote kindness and
prevent cruelty. Such humane literature should
be disseminated throughout the world, and all good
people should give the work their hearty support.

260 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

If we would save the structure of society from
utter dissolution, maintain inviolate our civil and
religious liberties, and preserve ourselves as a na-
tion, we must teach and enforce humanity. This
moral restraint should be taught from our pulpits,
in our schools, and at our homes. And, especially
should parents set the example, if they expect their
children to aspire to kind and gentle disposition.

" Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sona
To love it too. The springtime of our years
Is soon dishonored and defiled in most
By budding ills that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas ! none sooner shoots
If unrestrained, into luxuriant growth
Than cruelty, most devilish of them all."

And above all things, do not crush out humanity
by trying to ridicule a tender heart. I have seen
men become angry, and have heard them abuse
their wives and daughters because they were too
kind-hearted to behead a chicken. How inhuman
to abuse a person for possessing the noblest trait of
character that God has given mankind. Men may
frown and ridicule, but angels will smile and
Heaven will bless such sweet dispositions.

I was once sitting in a friend's house when a
sweet, bright little girl came tripping into the room

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 261

and said, "Papa, the cook wants you to please kill
the chicken that is in the coop, as she hasn't the
time to kill it." The gentleman told the little girl
that he was busy also, and that she must go and kill
it herself. She begged her papa not to compel her
to it, for, said she, " I haven't the heart to kill
the poor thing." Her father paid no attention to
her reasons but compelled her to go out to commit
the bloody work. She was gone but a few mo-
ments when she returned, weeping as if her little
heart would break, and said, " O, papa, I can't kill
the poor thing." The color came to his face, he
arose in anger and dragged the little girl after him.
I heard him give her several hard blows. Oh 1
how my heart ached. I would not have that single
sin of trying to crush humanity out of that dear
little girl's heart rest upon me, unforgiven, for the
wealth of the universe. The enjoyment of my
visit was destroyed, and after lingering long
enough to kiss the merciful, precious little hand
that would not take life, I left with a sad heart.

When we come in contact with a family that
will pet and caress the animals about them, we feel
we are in the society of good and kind people. "We
like to hear a mother and father speak gently to

262 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

their children, as considerate and loving parents
will do. On this same principle, to hear a person
call a bird a "sweet little darling," a cat, a "dear
little pet," a horse or dog a " nice, dear good fel-
low," etc., portrays a tender, loving disposition
which goes to make a peaceful, happy home.

The peculiar lessons taught by Christ may in all
cases be applied with the greatest power to ac-
complish the reformation desired. That great law
of the Divine administration so distinctly pointed
out in the words " blessed are the merciful ; for
they shall obtain mercy," ought never, for one mo-
ment, to be forgotten by any class of men.

Throughout the whole moral dominion, the rule
may be considered as holding good, that the qualities
which men display in their conduct, draw down on
them a corresponding manifestation of blessings
in the righteous dispensation of heaven. Those who,
throughout all their conduct, show mercy to the
whole family of the Creator, have a distinct assur-
ance that they too, in their time of need, shall ob-
tain mercy.

As in the societies of man, just and benevolent
rulers, who maintain the rights and secure the
happiness of their subjects, render their power

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 263

more permanent and extensive; so every man who
exercises his power over inferior animals with
equity and kindness, best secures the benefit of
their services. Subdued and attached, and ren-
dered happy by kindness, they submit easily to his
direction, and render, writh ease and comfort, the
services which are required of them. By not be-
ing irritated by abuses or injuries they are not
tempted to inflict those severe retaliations which
God, for their protection, has given them the
means.

As the Creator gave to man, before the fall, a
moral as well as an intellectual guardianship over
lower animals, He gave also to animals a corre-
sponding kind disposition in order that they might
acknowledge man's superiority, and in this wise
adaptation is found the source of various mutual
blessings. Notwithstanding the sad derangement
of peace and happiness which was the result of the
fall, we yet see many animals clinging to man with
a stronger attachment than they have for their own
species. They seek his society and are delighted to
be noticed, they rejoice in every mark of his ap-
probation, and delight to be employed by him in
services suited to their capacities.

264 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

Thus the comfort of man is evidently promoted
when this dominion is wisely and justly exercised,
according to the original design of the Creator. A
right to rule is not a right to tyrannize ; and a right
to service extends only to such duties as are con-
sistent with the powers and capacities of the serv-
ant to perform.

All power is of God, and can only be lawfully
exercised when exercised according to His design.
Power, like every other talent and blessing, was
given to be exercised in wisdom and goodness, and
according to the principles and rules appointed by
Him who conferred it. The Creator has given to
all His creatures the power of life, activity, and
enjoyment.

He has provided for their wants, and afforded to
them the means of happiness. He has, therefore,
adapted external nature for their good as well as
for man's ; and has given to them their share of its
blessings.

As their happiness depends so much on their en-
vironment, when under the control of man, how
important that they should be treated with justice,
goodness, and mercy. Is it not the very essence of
benevolence to desire and to promote the happiness

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 26$

of every being within the sphere of our in-
fluence ?

Do not justice and rectitude require that we re-
gard the rights of every living creature, and furnish
them a competence of sustenance and comforts
when we have deprived them of the means of pro-
curing it for themselves ? Every place in the
Bible where God has revealed His will on this sub-
ject is distinguished for its tender care of the des-
titute, the afflicted, and the helpless.

The Bible enjoins kindness and compassion to all
the creatures placed under our power, in such in-
stances as the laboring ox, harmless birds, rest on
the Sabbath, and relief of the distressed.

" Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out
the corn," is a striking instance of minute attention
to the feelings and comforts of those humble min-
isters of good. We are thus taught the general
spirit we should cherish ; we are specially taught
that every creature which toils for our benefit,
should receive a liberal participation in those bless-
ings which we enjoy through their labors.

In the same spirit of compassion it is commanded,
" If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the
way, in any tree, or on the ground, thou shalt not

266 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

take the mother with the young ; " thou shalt not
add to her wretchedness, that of losing her own
liberty and witnessing the destruction or imprison-
ment of her offspring.

It was forbidden to yoke the donkey and the ox
together, as they never associated together, and
their tread was so unequal that it was considered
a sin to compel them to be placed in the same yoke
— a practical lesson which is ignored by many cruel
masters at the present time.

The precept in the observance of the rest for an-
imals on the Sabbath is a beautiful and impressive
lesson which teaches man his moral duty to animals.
The observance of this blessed day of rest belongs
to the lower animals as well as man. " Six days
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God :
in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son,
nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-
servant, nor thy cattle (animals), nor thy stranger
that is within thy gates." This blessed institution,
appointed for man from the beginning of his ex-
istence ; universal in the object which it celebrates,
and the good which it is destined to advance;
being suited to all beings of every country and

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 267

every age, is justly denominated the universal hol-
iday for man and lower animals.

It will suffice in this connection to notice one
more important humane lesson taught in the Bible.
" If thou seest the ass of him that hateth thee lying
under his burden ; thou shall surely help him."
The natural principle of sympathy confirms the au-
thority of this command, and shows its equity to
every feeling mind. It requires us to relieve an
oppressed or endangered animal and for fear the
fact of its belonging to an enemy might be a less
inducement, the command was made plain so as to
remove that objection.

Every animal that may be in a situation of op-
pression or suffering is to be relieved, and that
without regard to whom it may belong, though it be
to our worst enemy. These precepts were given to
teach humanity towards the inferior creatures ;
and if this spirit was recognized under the let-
ter of the law in those early days, it must
surely be made more in accordance with the
gospel, which is so particularly a system of love
and mercy under the Christian dispensation.
The present time is proverbial for the advance-
ment made towards a higher standard of be-

268 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

nevolence and charity so far as mankind is con-
cerned.

Asylums have been established for the reception of
the wretched ; homes and hospitals for the children,
the aged, the friendless, and the afflicted ; and the
streams of bounty have flowed copiously for their
support.

Individuals have called down blessings upon their
memory by the endowment of some charitable in-
stitution. Let any apparent want or distress of
mankind be presented to a community, and relief is
readily obtained. But the uncomplaining, suffering
animal creation is often deemed an object neither
fit for compassion nor susceptible of feeling.

Many men in the name of charity have given
great fortunes to assist public institutions, some of
which practice vivisection in its most horrible
forms ; and for every dollar thus spent, there is one
more groan, one more cry, one more quiver of the
nerves, and one more struggle in death's agony.
How often the means and power which a man pos-
sesses is given for purposes which cause untold suf-
fering and agony when he might use such means to
make the world better and happier. How obvious
and important are these principles, yet how little

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 269

are they regarded and how slightly felt by multi-
tudes professing to be Christians.

Like other important truths and duties, men ac-
knowledge them, but they make little impression
on their hearts. Such a demoralizing effect of cus-
tom and familiarity with evil, and the frequent
abuse of power, and practices of the most odious
nature, which, if witnessed for the first time would
excite our terror, are daily beheld and committed
with the most heartless insensibility.

There is nothing more demoralizing to any peo-
ple or country than the inhuman and barbarous
practice of sporting at the expense of animal life.
Man is the only animal on earth which kills for
fun, and in this respect is the meanest creature God
ever made. What are such amusements as cock-
fighting, dog-fighting, bull-fighting and pigeon-shoot-
ing but sports which are disgraceful to a civilized
people, fitted to foster the most baleful passions,
and to harden the heart against the calls of hu-
manity ?

What a peculiar sport it is to see animals harassed
with perpetual terror, brought together and com-
pelled to fight a foe made so by man, and to witness
the struggle of death, and man shouting the louder

270 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

at the sight of the greatest suffering inflicted.
What kind of sport to a sensitive nature is it to turn
loose one bird after another, and then wound, maim,
and kill them in their attempt to seek their liberty
as they spread their beautiful soft wings and soar
towards heaven ? "When one is badly wounded and
makes a great effort to get beyond the reach of the
murderous gun, its writhing and struggles are
mocked by shouts and yells from the crowd present,
while bets are made as to the final results.

It does not seem possible that any kind-hearted,
benevolent man could derive any pleasure from be-
holding such scenes as these, if he would stop long
enough to reflect on the enormous evils of which
they are productive, and which have now become
so obvious and palpable as to draw forth the strong
and indignant protest of all kind and good men and
women.

The New York Tribune, speaking on this subject,
savs : " The business is a detestable one, and should
be discountenanced by humane people and forbid-
den by law as absolutely as are any of the cruel and
degrading 'sports' of olden times. The conflicts
of the Roman arena were less cowardly, for in them
the victims had at least a chance to fight for life.

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 27 1

Wanton, cowardly, and cruel in an inexcusable de-
gree is the judgment to be passed upon this relic of
barbarism."

It must be far from giving any pleasure to a good
man, to see poor animals sacrificed as victims to a
love of amusement, or to gratify the idle curiosity
of unfeeling spectators. I wonder when men are
cruelly torturing harmless doves, if they ever think
that it was a dove that went forth from the ark,
at the bidding of Noah, and brought in an olive
branch as a token of the deliverance of man from
the flood, and that it was the form of a dove,
or an angel dove, which descended from heaven
as a means of ushering in the Christian dispensa-
tion.

David makes a pathetic plea against such sports
in the following words : " Remember this, that the
enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the fool-
ish people have blasphemed Thy name. O deliver
not the soul of Thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of
the wicked : for the dark places of the earth are
full of the habitations of cruelty."

Let the man who is in the habit of furnishing
birds for shooting matches read and ponder over
this passage of Scripture, and let those who deny

272 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

that animals have souls erase that word from God's
Eevelation or admit they are wrong.

In reading the history of the world it is interest-
ing to note the evolution in morality. What was
once thought moral is now known to be immoral,
and what was once thought innocent is now known
to be wicked.

The teachings of the most cultured people of
ancient times, the Greeks and Romans, would to-
day be considered barbarous, tyrannical, and cruel.
In their form of government the condition of slaves
and women were on an equality, and man and lower
animals were tortured with the most horrible cruel-
ties for the amusement of the people.

Man was compelled to fight against man, and the
ladies of the empire, the female aristocracy, gazed
upon man plunging the sword in the breast of man
and the bloody and agonizing struggle of death with
triumphant joy.

Starved lions, dogs, and bears were placed in the
arena of the theatre with sheep, goats, and cattle,
and the bloody struggle for life was witnessed by
men, women, and children of the nation.

But retribution will come upon nations as well as
individuals for wrong-doing. Look at the history

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 273

of the Antediluvians, Sodom and Gomorrah, Egypt,
Canaan, Nineveh, Babylon and Persia. And later
on, consider the history of the once proud and pros-
perous nations of Greece and Rome, which were
permitted to continue for a thousand years and
then were blotted from the face of the earth.

The cry of the oppressed may be unheeded on
earth but it is heard in heaven. God is just ; and
if justice reigns, then the unjust must sooner or
later suffer terrible retribution, for " Vengeance is
Mine ; I will repay saith the Lord."

Sporting at the sacrifice of suffering is a relic of
barbarism, and how any refined sensitive human
being can engage in such amusement is more than
I can comprehend. What may be called sport, to
one of God's creatures becomes intense suffering
and death.

The wholesale slaughter of birds to furnish orna-
ments for women's hats is another feature of
wanton cruelty which deserves the condemnation
of all good people.

When a woman is wearing the form of a beauti-
ful bird, with bright and lovely plumage, its feet
clinging as it were to the limb of a tree, its wings
spread as if about to soar to the heavens, and its

274 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

tiny mouth partly open as if its song had been cut
short by the assassin's bullet, does she realize that
that dead form was once a precious creature, happy
in its forest home, with a warm heart and a living
soul ? And yet this is true if the Bible is true.

The remedy is obvious. Do not wear such orna-
ments, and by so doing, stop the demand.

We should blush with shame and tremble with
remorse to be the cause of the death of the sweet
birds which enliven our homes by their happy lives.
Their sweet songs awake us at the dawn, accom-
pany us through the day, and at soft twilight their
plaintive lullabies of praise and thankfulness to
God who created them for our happiness, soften
and harmonize our best natures.

The beneficent Creator seems to spare no pains in
providing such means to cheer the hearts of man-
kind, and to lessen his sorrows. How sweetly at
the return of spring, do the notes of the brown
thrush, the robin and the meadow-lark burst upon
our ears, as a reminder of our childhood days. No
inducement should cause us to cut short the precious
life of one of these little creatures.

"While with many of us the haunts of the green
meadows and the maple forests, like a dream, have

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 275

faded away through the lapse of time, yet we have
our homes, our lawns and parks, and can care for
and love the birds the more for past associations.

Seal hunting is another cruelty which should not
be overlooked or passed uncensured. These harm-
less animals are slaughtered in March when the
baby seals are too young and helpless to get out of
the way of the hunters, and when they are depend-
ent upon their mother's milk for support.

"While a large number of the young seals are
killed in the absence of their mothers, yet thou-
sands of mother seals are slaughtered annually in
the absence of their young which are left to suffer
and starve to death. Statistics show that there
have been about two hundred thousand killed an-
nually, and it is feared by those who profit by this
slaughter, that the species will soon become ex-
terminated. When contemplating this cruel whole-
sale slaughter, and the fact that our government
encourages it, and receives a large sum of blood-
money annually for this gracious privilege, I can
only wish that God in His infinite love and mercy,
might see fit to call to Himself the soul of the last
one. Extermination has been the fate of some of
the most noble animals which formerly roamed

276 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

over the hills and western prairies of our land,
and of some species of birds of most beautiful
plumage, which enlivened the forests with their
sweetest songs. " The Lord is very pitiful and of
tender mercy," and when any species of His crea-
tures are so tortured that all life becomes an end-
less misery He calls them to Himself.

Fashion, like sporting, is planted deep in hu-
man nature, and is often productive of great evil.
Fashion is responsible for the way horses are
abused by curb-bits, double bits, over-head check-
reins, and docking. Any one who respects the
moral law will agree that a horse has a right to be
protected from cruel torment. The over-check does
not have a single argument in its favor. It makes
a horse carry his head in an unnatural position
which is neither graceful, comfortable, nor benefi-
cial. He is more apt to stumble, as he cannot see
his feet, and when required to draw a heavy load
the check holds up his head and shoulders, the very
reverse of a natural position for a heavy draught.
It interferes with the graceful appearance of a
horse, and detracts from his natural, easy move-
ments. It obstructs breathing, and on a long jour-
ney causes intense suffering by holding the head in

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 277

one position. That it causes a horse to suffer is
evident by the way he frets, tossing his head from
side to side, foaming and often bleeding from the
constant pressure on the tender parts of the mouth
and tongue. It makes the mouth raw and sore,
creates distress, and consequently the horse becomes
irritable and less kind and useful, and his life is
shortened. The best argument is the comparison
of livery horses with farm horses of the same age.

When two bits are used in the mouth, the objec-
tions to the over-check are still greater. The mouth
is distorted and spread apart; dust accumulates in
the mouth and throat, and breathing is seriously in-
terfered with. Curb-bits are equally objectionable.
They are a constant misery in a horse's mouth as
they press up on the chin and down on the tongue
and tender parts of the mouth. The long levers
are not in the proper position to guide or control a
horse and such a bit should never be used under
any circumstances.

A horse is a kind, gentle, obedient animal, and
is willing to do what he understands is required of
him, but, like a child, he must be taught. There
are three important things in the government and
control of all animals, namely, common sense.

278 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

patience, and kindness, each of which is indispen-
sable.

The fashion of docking horses is prohibited in
several states, and should be in all. It is an agoniz-
ing, useless operation, and inflicts on the poor horse
a cruel mutilation for life. When a portion of the
tail is amputated it destroys the graceful move-
ments and noble appearance the Creator has given
to a perfect horse, to say nothing of his inability to
dislodge flies and dust from his body. The " Rural
Stockman," of New Orleans, declares: "When men
commit such a cruelty as docking horses they give
good evidence that the whipping-post was abolished
too soon." Dr. George Fleming, late Chief Veteri-
nary Surgeon of England, says, " Nothing can be
more disgusting than this barbarous and detestable
fashion. Those who sanction it are no true horse-
men, but are promoters of a great cruelty which
decreases the usefulness and value of horses." Dr.
S. K. Johnson, Chief Surgeon New York Veteri-
nary Hospital, gives his opinion in the following
words: "No language can be too strong in con-
demnation of the painful and cruel operation called
docking." We are glad to know that this sinful
habit is on the decrease.

MEANS OF PREVENTING CRUELTY 279

On the Western plains, horses, sheep, and cattle
are raised in large numbers, and the suffering they
endure, during winters, especially, is horrible. As a
rule, the large herds are not protected from the
snow-storms, and thousands starve and freeze to
death every year. While young, they are branded
with red-hot irons, and many of them are rebranded
many times. When they are finally shipped, they
undergo great suffering from being overcrowded
and exposed to heat and cold, and, in addition, are
often starved and beaten and mutilated by the
drovers. Like human slavery of old, the suffering
of living beings is not taken into consideration
when there is prospect of financial gain.

CHAPTER XVII

SOME PROMINENT EVILS — A NECESSITY FOR A
FUTURE REWARD

Duty of Christian people — No excuse for wanton cruelty — Laws
should be made and enforced against it — Animals have rights —
God will finally redeem all His creatures.

The most lamentable trait in human nature is
man's willingness to sacrifice the sense of right
upon the altar of cruelty in order to advance his
personal interest. The fad to be called "scien-
tific," at the expense of cruelty, has become fash-
ionable in the last century. It is the revival of the
worst forms of heathen barbarism, and is endanger-
ing the good name, peace, and happiness of our
country.

The moral law of justice, of love, and of mercy is

being supplanted by injustice and cruelty. Man

becomes so hardened by selfishness that if the life

of a lower animal or a human being stands in his

supposed way to notoriety he regards them as mere

things to be destroyed. This growing propensity

should arouse all good, law-abiding people to make

280

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 28 1

a united effort to prohibit all forms of wanton
cruelty. It seems a great misfortune that in this
age of reform, when the Christian world is becom-
ing hopeful, and mankind as a general rule, grow-
ing better, that a few inhumane physiologists should
insist on shocking, not only the Christian world,
but the heathen world, by using the most sickening
tortures the devilish nature of man can invent on
the living bodies of sensitive beings. Good people
are powerless to help, but they turn aside and weep
at the indescribable miseries and horrors inflicted
upon animals.

Vivisection has been brought to public notice in
the last few years by the continued and persistent
barbarous experiments, under the guise of physio-
logical science, made on our most gentle and loving
animals by the hands of cruel men. Like many
other evils which have blotted the pages of the
history of man with crime and blood, this is des-
tined to continue until the people rise in a mass and
cry out, it is enough. How long these poor defense-
less animals will be permitted to suffer before that
time comes is a heart-breaking problem for kind
and good men and women to solve.

We are constantly talking and writing about the

282 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

cruelties of other nations while we are permitting
worse things frequently in our own country.

There is a tendency among even Christian people
to overlook the subject of cruelty to animals, and
regard it as only a mere fancy of sentimentalism.
We do not hope to reform that class so much as
to educate the rising generation to a higher and
nobler sentiment. It is the young mind, now in a
process of cultivation and discipline, that we expect
to influence for good. When we look over the pages
of history and see the vast amount of time, money,
and suffering it takes to bring about any great
reform, our hearts are made to ache at the sinful
nature of man. The efforts which are being made
to-day by many of the best people in the civilized
world to prohibit vivisection should have the sup-
port of all Christian people of all nations, and I
believe the cause does have their support. Right
here is where the line should be drawn ; if a man
or woman refuses to help support this great humane
cause, he or she cannot possibly be a Christian ac-
cording to the teachings of the Bible, wThich says,
" Open thy mouth for the dumb ... be merciful
as your Father is merciful . . . what doth the
Lord require of thee but to do justly, love mercy,

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 283

and walk humbly with thy God . . . a righteous
man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender
mercies of the wicked are cruel . . . blessed are
the merciful ... be ye kind and tender-hearted
. . . be ye harmless as doves . . . the right-
eous is ever merciful ... he shall be judged
without mercy who shows no mercy."

People are generally uninformed on this subject.
I have had a number of ministers frankly acknowl-
edge they did not know the true import of the word
vivisection, and were not aware of the extent of its
practice. It may be said that such things are too
horrible to read, but it must be remembered that
they are not too horrible to be done by murderous
hands, and not so horrible but that the poor ani-
mals are compelled to endure the suffering.

Reforms are brought about by holding up the
oppressors to the gaze of the world in their true
light. The oppression and cruelty practiced by the
Inquisition and slavery were suppressed when the
masses became enlightened on the subject, and
united in concerted action to blot them out of ex-
istence. God will hear the cry of the oppressed.
It was not His will but man's disobedience which
brought sin and suffering into the world. To sup-

284 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

pose that God, in the creation of animals, gave them
a system of sensory nerves to be used for ex-
perimental purposes by man would be the greatest
blasphemy which could possibly be attributed to a
beneficent Creator.

God never made it necessary to vivisect His in-
nocent, helpless creatures in order to find the secrets
of the science of biology, physiologj7, or anatomy.
Shame on any mortal man who would dare claim
that such a horrible and repulsive method of in-
vestigation became necessary. As the science of
anatomy and physiology is reduced to a perfect and
complete system, it becomes entirely unnecessary to
resort to the cruel and sickening methods practiced
by some anatomists and physiologists.

The quickest and best way to study anatomy
and physiology is by the use of books, charts, maps,
models, skeletons, manikins, and various illustrations,
all to be had at a small cost. All well-regulated
schools and colleges are supplied with the means
necessary to teach all that can be learned, and the
practice of vivisection cannot possibly add any-
thing new or useful. If a student wishes to study
for the practice of medicine and surgery, then it
may become necessary to take a practical course in

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 285

the dissecting-room, but in no case is vivisection of
any practical value whatever.

I hold a diploma from one of the largest and
best-equipped medical colleges in the United States,
and I have never known nor heard of a single case
of vivisection ever having been practiced within its
grand old walls.

The practice of vivisection is not done for the
good of humanity, but simply to keep up with
a useless fad which has been recently intro-
duced into the curriculum of college laboratory
work. The desire to have the most extensive
course has been at the bottom of it ail, and yet
there are very few of our most talented and use-
ful teachers and physicians who approve of such a
course.

With all our national sins, so many and so
varied, the neglect to protect animals against suf-
fering and wanton cruelty is the worst and the
least excusable.

AVe look to moral influences and an enlightened
education to overcome prejudices and prevailing
errors. By far the greater number of opinions on
which we act in life are adopted upon the authority
of others, and in this way a system of education

286 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

may be formed which is opposed to moral truth.
Education is valuable only in proportion as it
makes the world better and happier, and there is
no safe guide for leading the multitude except an
enlightened and moral education. The principal
errors we find may be attributed to motives
springing from the pride and the perverse disposi-
tion of the human heart, prompted by a mere in-
tellectual enthusiasm. Errors generated in this
manner possess, commonly, some aspect of beauty,
of greatness, or of philosophical simplicity, to
recommend them ; for as they were framed amid a
pleasurable excitement of the mind, so they will
have a power to convey a kindred delight to
others. But the mischief is often more active and
conspicuous in second hands than in those of its
author. Imitators become more indiscreet and
radical than the originators.

But whoever in any manner cuts himself off
from the common sympathies of our best nature
by making sport of the energies of moral action,
rebutting every idea that does not minister grati-
fication either to fancy or taste, and having recourse
either to a jargon of sophistries, or to trivial eva-
sions, when other men act upon the intuitions of

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 287

good sense and right motives,— such a man becomes
dangerous to the welfare of any community. Moral
restraint serves directly to dispel errors of opinion
by presenting the sense of justice and mercy as a
true guide.

Christianity, unlike human science, was given to
mankind in a finished form, and cannot be im-
proved but simply learned by the guidance of an
enlightened conscience. Love and mercy form the
principal attributes of all virtue, hence we should

" Pity the sorrows of a poor old dog,

Who wags his tail a-begging in his need ;
Despise not even the sorrows of a frog,

God's creatures too, and that's enough to plead ;
Spare puss, who trusts us, purring on our hearth ;

Spare bunny, once so frisky and so free ;
Spare all the harmless tenants of the earth ;

Spare and be spared — or who shall plead for thee? "

The divine law and teachings are a sure and safe
standard of right and duty, and form a proper rule
of human ethics. This enthroned in the heart and
life will secure the happiness of the individual, and
best promote the highest good of society and the
happiness of the world.

The efforts of man to utilize a thing for his selfish
purpose regardless of the moral law governing such

288 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

utility has formed the dark side of the human race
during all ages. To use a thing, without regard to
the proper use the moral law intended, is subvert-
ing its purpose and degrading the omniscient power
and goodness of the Creator. Eight, wrongly in-
terpreted as to what might appear to be useful, has
been the palliating excuse for the most abominable
cruelties and wrongs ever practiced by man. Good
people who conscientiously differ from others were
once regarded as heretics, and injurious to the high-
est welfare of the country ; and, under the idea of
utility, were put to death by the thousands.

Not many centuries ago slaves were bought for
the purpose of experimenting on by vivisection, and
as it was supposed to be for the utility of science,
the right to do so was granted. Now since slaves
are not in the market, poor, helpless, innocent ani-
mals are made the prey for the supposed utility of
scientific investigation with all the recurrent horrors
of the dark ages.

Man has no more moral right to the one than to
the other, as both are a usurpation of a power of
the strong over the weak, for selfish and wicked
purposes.

H. S. Salt, in Animals' Rights, makes this bold

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 289

assertion : " The present condition of the more
highly organized domestic animals is in many ways
very analogous to that of the slaves of a hundred
years ago. Look back, and you will find in their case
precisely the same exclusion ; and, as a consequence,
the same deliberate stubborn denial of their social
rights. Look back, for it is well to do so; and then
look forward, and the moral can hardly be mis-
taken."

The whole structure of society is based on the
fact of human responsibility. If men are not ac-
countable for their actions, then there can be no
justice, no law, no assurance of the rights of the op-
pressed and suffering. Hence the necessity for laws
to punish those who cannot be persuaded by gentle
means. "Without the prevalence of laws to restrain
the vicious, civil government could not exist.

Some persons may try to evade the moral re-
sponsibility portrayed in this unpretending volume ;
but a guilty conscience will not allow them to do
so. No person can see intense suffering with the
power to relieve it, and not do so, unless his con-
science is seared with the blackest of crimes and
the most dissolute cruelties.

In conclusion, and with direct reference to the

290 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS

theme of this book, let me urge that one of the
principal arguments for man's immortality is that
righteousness is not always rewarded in this world,
and sin is not always punished. The sinner may
be prosperous and happy, so far as this world is
concerned, and the righteous may be subjected to
perpetual want and misery. The innocent may be
cruelly tortured to death, like the Christian mar-
tyrs and lower animals, and the wicked devils who
perpetrate such deeds enjoy the happiness and lux-
ury of a palatial home.

It is claimed that there must be a future life in
order to equalize such differences, which seems rea-
sonable. If such is God's plan to adjust the differ-
ences in one species of His creatures, by what justice
could He exclude another species who are possessed
of a like nervous system and susceptible of like
mental sorrow and physical suffering ?

Is it in accordance with the laws of nature and
what we know of the All-wise Creator to make such
a break in a general law as to give man a reward
of eternal happiness for innocence and suffering,
and annihilate another species of His creatures for
the same reason ?

That all living beings are immortal, and will con-

SOME PROMINENT EVILS 29 1

tinue to live in another world, is the only possible
way finite minds can solve the question as to why
the innocent and good are often compelled to en-
dure greater suffering than the wicked. The differ-
ences of features, races, species, powers of intellect,
whether the creatures walk, hop, swim or fly,
whether they go on two or four legs, will never
solve the question, for God made every bone, muscle,
and sinew, and strung each body with a system of
sensor nerves, and gave to each its own identity and
individuality, without consulting the wish or
choice of the creature. If there is a God who rules
the universe and impartially deals out justice and
mercy, who has given to man and lower animals
the five senses, and made them capable of pleasure
and pain, and permits such evident inequality on
earth, is it not reasonable to believe He will correct
this sad defect in a better world to come, where

" We may enjoy in realms above
The blessings of eternal love :
When man, released from pain and care,
With bird and beast shall heaven share ? "

— Moor.

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